


Send Me a Pic?

by Btw Where The Hell Are We (GrumpDerpShipping)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anal Sex, Awkward Dates, Crossdressing, Eventual Smut, First Time, Gay Sex, Implied/Referenced Abuse, M/M, Optional Smut, Rated M for eventual sexual content, Sloppy Makeouts, Slow Burn, Virgin Keith (Voltron), all the sex stuff isn't until the end tho so u good, established shadam, fluffy date stuff, klance, not trans keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-24
Updated: 2019-03-03
Packaged: 2019-07-16 12:46:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 32,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16086392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrumpDerpShipping/pseuds/Btw%20Where%20The%20Hell%20Are%20We
Summary: Keith and Pidge troll a dating app one nightKeith never knew that a single notification would lead to this'Lance M. sent you a message'





	1. Chapter 1

“Weren’t you two studying?” Shiro cocked an eyebrow at the kitchen table, its wood surface was covered with textbooks and papers that were currently only serving as decoration as the two figures at the table huddled around the dim light of a laptop.

“It’s not our fault Sawit is more entertaining than physics.” Pidge shrugged and adjusted her glasses with her middle finger while she continued to scroll through the website, something no one knew if she did on purpose or not.

“We’re just taking a break, Shiro,” Keith leaned back in his chair and smiled up at him, hoping his response would quell his worries better than Pidge’s sass.

Shiro sighed as he grabbed his messenger bag. “I’m going out for a few hours. Your midterms are next week so I want to be confident you two are going to actually study instead of browsing the internet all night.”

Pidge gave a dismisses wave, “Jeez, can you turn off dad mode for five minutes? We’ll be fine, go have fun.”

“Alright, but it’s not my fault if you two flunk.”

“I am not the one to worry about, Shiro,” Pidge smirked and side-eyed Keith.

“Hey!” Keith pouted before a pair of headlights caught his eye through the window.

A familiar maroon car pulled up to the building and the text alert on Shiro’s phone went off a few moments later. “Shiro, he’s here!” the boy smiled as his older roommate scrambled to get his shoes on.

“Okay, I’ll be back later Keith!” Shiro snatched his phone off the kitchen counter and rushed out the door.

Keith waved out at the two men as they left. It took a moment for Shiro to notice but he waved back when he did. Pidge quickly joined Keith at the window, making a circle with her thumb and pointer finger and jamming another finger through the hole in a lewd gesture to Shiro and his boyfriend, Adam. Pidge and Keith snickered as Shiro’s expression dropped into one of embarrassment and slight disownment before he finally got into the car.

Pidge stepped away from the window and plopped back in her seat as the car drove away towards the quickly dimming sun on the horizon. “Shiro’s such a dork. I’m surprised someone like Adam can handle him.” Keith shrugged at her comment.

“He’s difficult not to like. Trust me, I tried…” he breathed out a laugh and moved back over to Pidge’s laptop. Pidge took hold of her computer mouse again and continued to scroll.

After a few more minutes Keith let out an intrigued hum as they passed a disturbing text message screenshot. “There are so many creeps on these dating sites…” he commented. Pidge hummed and nodded in agreement.

“Why do you think I cut my hair short once I got to high school? Too many desperate weirdos…” a wicked grin slowly spread across her face. “Hey, I got an idea. Gimme your phone.”

“I don’t like where this was going…”

“C’mon don’t you want to troll assholes like this?” Pidge crawled into Keith’s lap in order to swipe his phone from the pocket of his jeans. Keith managed to push her away far enough that her tiny arms wouldn’t reach.

“Why does it have to be my phone though?”

“Mine died like an hour ago, c’mon! Please! We can catch all the desperate late night creepers!” she continued to squirm under his arm. Keith let out an exasperated sigh and let her go so she could grab his phone.

“Fine...just don’t do anything too crazy…” Pidge grinned and quickly scoured the app store for a dating app.

Keith drew his attention back to the chicken scratch notes that laid open on the table. He was content to let Pidge have her fun while he upheld his promise to Shiro to actually get some studying in. At least, he was until he saw the flash of his camera right behind him. Keith whipped his head around to look at Pidge who still had her face buried deep in his phone.

“What are you doing??”

“Writing the bio. Duh.” Pidge smirked and turned the phone around to show him. “You looked so candid. Like hell I was going to use my own pic.” The angle of the photo obscured his face, aside from his lips, pursed in concentration over attempting to read over his own writing from the past month. His black locks flowed gracefully over his slim, pale, shoulder that just barely poked out of his oversized shirt collar. “It’s cute! You look more like a girl than I do.”

“You bastard gremlin…” Keith huffed but didn’t stop Pidge from continuing with the profile. He abandoned his studies yet again to peer over her shoulder at her handiwork.

**‘Name: Kate K. Age: 22 Likes: long walks on the beach and long nights in bed. ;) I’m a laid back girl looking for a nice guy I can get to know <3’**

Both students internally cringed at the bio. Pidge cursed her own hands for typing such a thing.

“Where did you get the name Kate?” Keith inquired.

Pidge laughed slightly. “Dude, it’s my name.”

“Wait, what??” Pidge’s laugh got louder.

“Yeah, Katie Holt. Did you seriously not know what my actual name was?” Keith crossed his arms as he tried to defend himself.

“I mean, I’ve always just called you Pidge so-”

“So you thought my parents were cruel enough to name me Pidge?” Keith stuttered before quieting down and settling with glaring at Pidge’s smug look. “Welp! This isn’t going to be a productive evening. Wanna put on a movie?”

Keith’s face flipped back up into a smile. “Yes, yes I do.”

Pidge grinned and got up from her chair, moving to the couch while Keith went to grab a popcorn bag from the kitchen. She plopped down on the black leather and her hand felt a warm patch of fur as she set it down. “Oh! Hey Kosmo.”

At the sound of his name, the large black husky dog raised its head from the couch and sniffed her hand. He remembered that Pidge was friendly and licked her fingers as she moved her hand to pet him. “God, you blend into this couch so well. Didn’t even realize you were here.” she laughed and loosely wrapped her arms around his neck, half laying on him in an attempt to escape the chill of the leather couch. Keith joined them a few minutes later.

Kosmo’s ears perked up at his entrance and the alluring smell of snacks. “No…” Keith warned as he placed the bowl on the coffee table. Kosmo huffed in response and laid his head back down.

“You’re so cruel, Keith…” Pidge commented, not looking away from the tv while she scrolled through their movie options. Keith rolled his eyes and reached over to scratch Kosmo’s ear as an apology.

The movie they picked wasn’t really important. At least, it wasn’t once Keith’s phone started to vibrate. They missed the first initial message due to the volume of the tv. It was a simple ‘hey’ but they responded about 10 minutes later with a rant about “girls these days are just stuck up hoes” Pidge read the entire thing aloud in an angry redneck voice but eventually had to stop doing the voice because they were laughing too much. The speed at which this guy got impatient enough to use every insult for a woman you could look up was astounding.

“Oh, shit we caught another one. Let’s actually respond to this guy.” Pidge grinned as Keith opened another chat.

**‘Hey’**

**‘hi ;)’**

**‘How are you doing this evening beautiful?’**

**‘just chillin at home’**

**‘Can I chill between your legs?’**

Keith choked out a laugh before he even finished the sentence. Pidge snickered and gestured to him to give her the phone.

**‘Not a lot of room in this freezer, sorry.’**

**‘What?’**

**‘I told you I was chillin’**

**‘Wtf?’**

The two laughed and moved onto another message when Keith’s phone buzzed again.

**‘Nudes’**

“Well that’s straightforward” Pidge snickered before her eye caught the three dots at the bottom of the screen. This guy had more to say.

**‘Sorry, I meant “hey” that first message was autocorrect!’**

**‘Smooooooooooooooooooth’**

**‘haha yeah so whatcha wearing?’**

“Oh my god, this guy!” Pidge laughed.

“So close but so far…Hey, let me take the next one.” Keith took his phone back and kept it in his hand, putting his attention back on the movie until the message came in.

As the hours went on and more and more desperate men scoured the app, the two were left laughing on the floor, Kosmo having long since left the room to find a more quiet place to sleep. Keith picked up the phone again as they got another message.

“Will you fuck with me for $100?” he read aloud.

“Say yes!” Pidge responded.

“What?!”

“Just do it. I have a plan.”

Keith sighed and responded.

**‘sure, i’ll fuck with you for 100’**

**‘Can I see tnight?’**

Pidge nodded at him.

**‘yeah, your place?’**

**‘well I’m at work lol’**

“Hey, Cici!”

Crap Pidge activated the text-to-speech.

“Type: I’ll meet you at your work. I’m so horny.”

“Wh-?! Pidge!” Keith yelled, as his phone assistant made the words appear.

“Send!”

Keith watched in horror as the text bubble floated up into their chat. “What are you doing?!”

“Shh shh shh! I have a plan.” Pidge grinned and place a finger to Keith’s lips as she crawled over next to him and waited for the response.

**‘Wow fuck okay. I’m at the bar at Craft and Tara. txt me when ur there’**

**‘okay’**

Pidge smirked and laid back on the floor. “And now we wait…”

Another 20 minutes passed before the same guy messaged them again. **‘Where are you b** **by??’**

**‘Still at home. I was just fucking with you. Can I have my $100 now?’**

A few moments after the message was sent the man called them a cunt and blocked them. A car horn interrupted their laughter and Pidge got up to check who the source was. “Oh shit, that’s Matt. I gotta go.”

“Heh, alright. See ya in class, Pidge.”

Pidge gathered her things and waved as she left, scampering down to meet her older brother. Keith mused over the last exchange before closing out the app and swiping around the screen until he found his settings. As he went to delete the dating app another notification obscured his finger from pressing the uninstall button.

**‘Lance M. sent you a message’**

Keith shrugged and tapped the notification. One more couldn’t hurt.

**‘Hey there :)’**

Keith hummed and looked over the message. Should he try to think of a trolling message now or just see where this goes. He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard the door to the apartment creak open.

“Keith? I’m home.” Kosmo rushed down the hallway and bounded up to Shiro to greet him. Shiro smiled and pet him before looking up at Keith. “Pidge already leave?”

“Yeah, we got a lot done though. Should be fine for the exam.” Normally Shiro would be able to spot when Keith was lying but on their own neither sentence was a lie. Keith was confident he’d do fine on their test and the night had been very productive in finding a new form of entertainment.

Shiro smiled and yawned. “That’s great but I think I’m just about ready to crash. See you in the morning, Keith.” Shiro stretched and sauntered off towards his room.

“Night...” Keith waved as he set his phone down, looking over the slightly disheveled room. He knew how much Shiro disliked waking up to a messy apartment so for once in his life he actually had an urge to clean up. He readjusted the couch cushions, washed out the dishes, and gathered his school supplies off the table before turning in to bed himself.

His room was on the messy side. His clothes from the last three days were tossed to the floor. His desk was cluttered with papers, that only got worse when he set his textbook and notes on top of it all. Half his bed was filled with clean clothes he neglected to put away, his laptop, and other little things he had been using while in bed. But he wasn’t on enough of a cleaning spree to care about that.

He changed into his sleepwear and crawled into bed, only realizing a few minutes later that he had left his phone out but the couch when he noticed his vacant bedside charger. He let out a groan and weighed the pros and cons of getting up from under his comforter to get his phone before finally, and reluctantly, crawling out of bed to fetch it.

His phone turned on as he plugged it in, showing his lock screen picture of Kosmo laying upside down on the couch obscured by a notification. Oh yeah, that guy.

**‘You there?’**

**‘hey’**

**‘Wow you actually responded. Guess it’s better _Kate_ than never lol’**

Keith raised an eyebrow, that didn’t make any sense.

**‘??’**

**‘Cuz your name’**

What? Oh...right he was doing all of this under an alias. Keith felt a laugh forming in the back of his throat now that he finally got the pun.

**‘ohhhh haha’**

**‘Yeah lol wasn’t my best work’**

**‘nah, it was fine’**

**‘Fine like barely passing or fine like you?’**

**‘...’**

Keith would never admit that it actually made him blush a little.

**‘Sorry! I’ll stop with the pickup lines. I’m sure you’re sick of those’**

**‘i dunno, they can be kinda funny’**

**‘So you’re not gonna block me?’**

**‘i guess i can give you a _lance_ haha’**

There was no response for a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a real quick note even though I put it in the tags: this is NOT a trans! Keith fic. Keith has no desire to actually be female it's just another lie that will come back to bite him in the ass
> 
> Fun Fact!  
> All of the gag text conversations (aka ones without Lance) were inspired by/directly ripped from actual text conversations that have been shared online via reddit and tumblr.


	2. Chapter 2

Keith woke up to the loud boom of something being dropped on the tile floor of the kitchen. His eyes took their sweet time opening as the hissing sound of Shiro biting back curse words squirmed under the door to his room and into his ears. This could only mean one thing. Shiro was cooking breakfast again.

As much of an objectively good looking, responsible, and sweet man he was; Shiro was a constant disaster in the kitchen. He usually waited for Keith to get up and make something but the time for waiting for Keith to drag his ass out of bed must have passed long ago.

Keith made a few lazy attempts to grab his phone before he finally managed to grip the plastic case in his hand and drag it into bed with him. The short charging cable popped out as it was pulled past its limits and the bright glow the lock screen greeted Keith’s eyes again. He had a few more messages from that dating app cluttering up his usual list of app updates, emails, and disregarded alarms. He sighed and thought about deleting the app again before he noticed most of the messages were from that Lance guy. Out of pure curiosity, he opened the chat.

**‘So you’re not gonna block me?’**

**‘I guess I can give you a** **_Lance_ ** **haha’**

Keith groaned, did he really type that last night?

**‘ohmi god’**

**‘I’m dying’**

**‘Just’**

**‘Wow’**

**‘I am this close to asking you to marry me’**

**‘wait, shit that’d dumb’**

**‘sorrey I’m a little buzzed rn’**

**‘just dumbin all my dump thoughts onto you’**

**‘sorry about that’**

**‘are you still there Kate?’**

**‘whoa damn it is really late. You probably feel assleep’**

**‘sorry I’ll stop and let you get your z’s’**

**‘Talk to me when you wake up kay? I know you only said like five things but you already sound so cool’**

**‘kk gnight beautiful :3’**

Keith smirked at the line of texts as he scrolled through Lance’s drunken ramblings. Something about his messages felt so much more sincere than the gaggle of creeps he and Pidge trolled last night. Keith’s fingers hovered over the keys as he thought of what he wanted to say back.

**‘morning, is the hangover killing you?’**

He left it at that and double checked his notifications were at a decent volume so he would hear any messages back. A loud sizzling noise pulled him back to the task at hand, get out of bed before Shiro burned the apartment down.

He nudged the covers off himself and swung his legs over the side. He sat there in a dissociated state for another minute before finally managing to push himself onto his feet. Kosmo was the first thing he saw as he opened the door, blocking the narrow hallway with his eyes trained on Keith’s door. Kosmo lifted his head at the sight of his master stumbling out, tail thumping against the wood floor. The thumping gained Shiro’s attention as he turned away from the mess he made to address his roommate.

“Oh! Hey, Keith. You were still asleep so I thought it would be easier to cook something for myself instead of pestering you t-”

“Drop the food, Shiro. Everything you touch turns to ash.”

Shiro gave a sheepish smile and stepped aside as Keith approached the stove. “Rude...but fair…”

“Just take care of feeding Kosmo. I’ll save this best I can.” Keith hiked up his sweatpants so he wouldn’t trip over the cuffs before scraping out the burnt failure of a breakfast Shiro tried to make.

Despite the bag of dry food Shiro hauled out of the closet, Kosmo hovered around Keith’s legs. His eyes stayed trained on bacon he was removing from the package to put in the pan. Shiro chuckled at the large dog crowding Keith’s personal space for the sake of better food.

“Kosmo really? You have your breakfast right here bud.” Shiro complained.

Keith rolled his eyes but looked down into the glassy marbles staring back up at him. Those eyes crumbled his very soul as he started holding a strip of bacon out without another thought.

“Sit…” Kosmo slipped a little on the floor but still sat down, tail twitching eagerly. Keith smirked and very gently draped the bacon strip across Kosmo’s snout before backing away, the husky remaining patient but squirming with anticipation to eat the tantalizing treat. “Okay!” on that cue Kosmo tilted his head up and frantically snapped at the air to try and grab the bacon strip. It fell to the floor and was quickly snatched up in his ravenous jaws. “Good boy...now go eat.” Keith shooed him over to his food bowl with a smile before going back to the stove.

One, thankfully not burnt, serving of eggs and toast later, Keith’s phone pinged. He fished it out of his pocket and checked it; another message from Lance.

**‘Holy shit did I really type all that last night? Haha sorry if I came on too strong there ^^’’**

Keith smiled and quickly responded.

**‘don’t worry about it’**

**‘That was a quality fuckin name pun tho’**

**‘eh i was never that good with puns and wordplay’**

**‘So you never heard the one about the airplane?’**

**‘no??’**

**‘Don’t worry about it. It’d prolly go over your head.’**

**‘i mean yeah. probably. i just told you i’m bad with jokes’**

**‘Holy shit you’re adorable’**

Keith blushed slightly and quickly checked to make sure Shiro wasn’t looking at him. His roommate wasn’t trying to peer over his shoulder but when he looked up he did see Kosmo sitting next to him expectantly. Right, a certain someone was late as fuck to take him on a walk. That someone was Keith.

Keith sighed and rose from his seat at the kitchen table. “Alright, walk time.”

Kosmo’s ears perked and he bounded over to a small shelf beside the door. Standing on his hind legs he took his leash in his mouth and elegantly settled back onto all fours. He stared at Keith as he quickly left the room to change, whining impatiently and wagging his tail. Keith returned in his university hoodie and a better fitting pair of exercise pants. He clipped the leash to Kosmo’s collar and lead him out of the apartment, eyes still trained on his phone when Lance sent him another message.

**‘So what are you up to this morning?’**

**‘not much, just left to walk my dog’**

**‘You have a dog??’**

**‘yeah, siberian husky’**

**‘Well fuck, you know the rule right?’**

**‘rule?’**

**‘If you mention you have a dog you send pics asap!’**

**‘since when is that a rule?’**

**‘Since I really really wanted to see your dog’**

Keith rolled his eyes and gave a quick whistle to Kosmo as he switched to his camera app. Kosmo looked at him in attention as he snapped the photo and rewarded him with a pet on the head. “Good boy…” Keith sent the image before briefly putting his phone down to open the main door. Kosmo lept out onto the pavement, tugging Keith along as he ran. Keith settled into a jog after a few stumbling steps and Kosmo slowed down to a brisk trot.

**‘AFHEAFBGEAOFJSA’**

**‘HE’S SO PERF’**

**‘Or she’**

**‘Either way, this is the best dog I’ve ever seen’**

Keith snickered at the texts when he was finally able to check them, Kosmo stopping to sniff at things in the park grass. He walked lazily down the pathway, focusing on keeping a grip on his phone while he tried to text with one hand.

**‘you were right the first time. Kosmo’s a boy’**

**‘Kosmo?? That’s a cute name!’**

**‘idk my roommate picked it. Kosmo Thunderstorm Darkness Kogane’**

**‘Lmao what!’**

**‘we couldn’t decide so he just combined all our ideas’**

**‘I love it omfg. Makes him sound like badass hellhound or something’**

Keith snapped another photo of Kosmo while he was rolling in the grass, tongue flopping out of his mouth and his ears adorably smushed against the ground. He added the photo to the chat before continuing on his walk.

**‘this is what claims your soul when you die’**

**‘Lol sign me the fuck up’**

\-----------------

“Lance. Laaaaaaance.” a large set of fingers snapped in his face as Lance peeled his eyes from his phone, Hunk staring at him with a disappointed look. “You say you need help studying but you won’t stop giggling at your phone.”

Lance blushed slightly before shoving the phone in his friend’s face. “I can’t help it do you see this!”

Hunk’s disappointment faltered at the sight of a cute dog laying in the grass on his phone screen. “Aww…”

“I know, right?! I started chatting with this girl last night and she has, like, the best dog I have ever seen.”

“You say that about literally every pet you see…”

“I’m not wrong, though!” Lance shoved the picture of Kosmo in his face again to prove his point.

“You're not, but you also need to put the phone down and study. Chatting up girls isn't that important.” Hunk nudged the textbook closer to him until it fell off the cafe table and into his lap. Lance whined in response and put the phone down. Hunk was right, he was taking his weekend to help Lance survive the midterm. He might as well actually try to study.

As much as he tried the words on the paper seemed out of focus, blurred by thoughts about Kate. He wanted to know everything about her. He should ask about her taste in music and movies. Maybe she played games. When should he ask her on a proper date and where? How cute is she? Really cute or super cute? Come to think of it he didn't have a picture. Her profile only showed her adorable soft lips and beautiful hair. God, Lance was about ready to melt, he was so in love already.

Hunk rolled his eyes at his lovestruck idiot of a friend and flicked his eraser in between Lance's eyes to snap him out of it.

\-----------------

**‘So do you play any instruments?’**

**‘i have a bass don't play it much anymore though’**

**‘Gasp! Show me!’**

Keith shrugged and switched to his camera, snapping a photo of the bass guitar propped up in the back corner.

“Keith? You there?” Pidge's voice chirped through his headset, the audio slightly choppy since he had walked away from the console he was connected to in the living room.

“I’m here, just grabbing something,” he snatched the charging cable he was looking for and walked back to the living room. He smirked at Pidge prodding his motionless in-game character with her gun as they waited in the game lobby. “Alright, alright, I’m back” Keith picked up the controller and wiggled the joystick a little to get Pidge to stop. His phone buzzed with Lance's reply and he attempted to check it before the match started.

“Dude c’mon!”

He dropped the phone at Pidge’s demand, just as he opened the chat, and focused on the game.

Lance stared at his phone and gradually started to pout. Minutes began to tick by as the message was marked and seen but never replied to. He didn't want to be that guy but Kate had been fairly consistent with how quick she replied.

“Lance calm down. She's probably just busy. My friend’s not answering either and she's a girl. They just get busy doing their girl stuff.” Hunk explained, trying to soothe his friend’s worries.

“Yeah but she likes video games and D&D. Kate isn't really like that.”

“How do you know?”

“Well...okay I don't really but she just doesn't look the type.”

“You could ask?”

“I don't want to double text Hunk!” Lance whined and swiped the pillow from Hunk’s dorm room bed, burying his face in to try and quell his frustrations. Hunk offered a comforting pat to his back, debating whether or not he should still push Lance to study before deciding now wasn't the time.

“You're really hung up on this girl. Is she really that cute?”

Lance’s grip softened on the pillow and he hummed in delight. “Adorable…”

“Do you have a pic?”

Lance sat up and stretched to grab his phone as it rested, charging, on the nightstand. He ended up bent over the edge of the bed, craning his neck up to see the phone screen as he unlocked it. It looked horribly uncomfortable but, given Lance's flexibility, Hunk knew he could handle it.

“I only have her profile pic. Here,” Lance handed the phone to Hunk who hummed in thought.

“No face pictures yet? You're really showing restraint,” Hunk commented as he handed the phone back.

“Just don't want to seem creepy... She’s a really nice girl,”

Hunk narrowed his eyes slightly “You forgot and you’re about to ask her.”

“Okay, that’s part of it…”

\-----------------

“Hey, Keith?”

Keith blinked and turned his attention back to the screen ahead of him.

“Are you okay?” Pidge asked. “You seem out of it tonight.”

Keith glanced back down at the phone in his hand, Lance’s chat still open on his screen. “Sorry, just got distracted with something.” the dating apps familiar ping went off again.

“Are you still trolling guys on that app? Did you get anything good??” Pidge asked eagerly. Keith tensed and blushed slightly. Pidge would find out about this whether he told her or not. She was an expert at prying into people’s business and storing their dirty secrets for any future blackmail she may need to use. He was reluctant to endure the teasing that would come from this but the only way to take away her power was to make it public.

“Not exactly...I kinda...met someone on here. He’s actually pretty nice…”

There was a long pause of silence.

Keith jumped when a large hand suddenly landed on his shoulder. The weight of it nearly made him fall over as Shiro leaned in to peer at his phone. “So you’re dating someone?”

“What?! N-no we just met over this thing. I don’t even know what he looks li-” another ping interrupted him and he couldn’t help but glance down at the phone.

“Well, you do now,” Shiro smirked.

**‘Hey, I don’t wanna sound weird or anything but would it be cool if you sent me a face pic? My buddy and I are arguing over how cute you are. Super cute or really super cute.’**

**‘Here, I’ll send one too so it’s not too weird.’**

Below the two messages was an image. A selfie, taken in what appeared to be a cluttered college dorm room. The boy had a young, slim physic; thin brown hair brushed away from two big bright blue eyes. His darker complexion was flawless, not a single mark or bump to be seen and in the center of it all was a small, endearing smile.

Shiro quirked an eyebrow as Keith stared on at the image. “Hm...he’s cute. Nice work, Keith.”

“Shiro!” Keith’s face flushed even more, his voice cracking mid-yell.

“C’mon Shiro, let Keith have this one. You can’t capture every guy’s heart in this town.” Pidge commented.

“Is that a bet?” Shiro chuckled back, faintly hearing Pidge’s voice pour out of the headphones wrapped around Keith’s neck.

Keith groaned. “I guess I should send one back. It’s only fair right?” he moved his finger to tap the camera icon.

“Hold on, Keith. You’re still using that troll account, right? Does he know you’re actually a guy?”

“I…” oh no. “Oh god, I’m actually a guy!”


	3. Chapter 3

**‘Here, I’ll send one too so it’s not too weird.’**

**‘Lance sent a photo’**

**‘sorry i just...i can't’**

**‘Crap I knew that sounded creepy. I’m sorry! I’m just curious what you look like.’**

**‘its okay i know you mean well and for the record, you're pretty cute’**

“Shiro! Give me back my phone!” Keith bent backward over the couch, hands grasping wildly to try and get the phone back. Shiro chuckled and dangled it over his head before Keith’s skinny arms could finally snatch it.

“I was just getting the ball rolling for you, Keith”

Keith bit back a scream as he read over the messages. “I don’t need you flirting for me!”

“I’m just saying, I’ve had time to hone my flirtation skills.”

“Didn’t Adam ask you out first?” Keith narrowed his eyes at his roommate.

“Didn’t you say thank you instead of yes?” Pidge commented, her voice laced with smugness.

“You could have just said you didn’t want my help...” Shiro’s shoulder sunk as he pouted.

Keith groaned and buried his face into the leather couch. “I’m so screwed! He has no idea I’m not a girl…”

Shiro sighed and sat next to him, offering a sympathetic pat to his head. “Keith, you’re going to have to tell him.”

“What?!” Keith launched his head off the couch cushion and looked up at Shiro.

“Do you honestly expect to keep this up? If he likes you he’ll eventually want to do more than just text you.”

“I know, I know, but...he likes girls. If he finds out I’m a guy it’s over.”

Shiro sighed but offered a patient smile. “You really like him, don’t you…”

“Awww!” Pidge interjected.

Keith blushed and pulled off his headphones. “Shut up, Pidge!”

Shiro placed a hand on Keith’s shoulder to pull his attention back. “Keith, if you really like him you need to be honest. If he can’t accept you then he doesn’t deserve you.”

Keith sighed and lightly nudged Shiro’s hand off. “I’ll figure something out. Just give me some time and I’ll...I’ll tell Lance everything.” Keith got up from the couch and ran his fingers through his hair. “Sorry to cut it short tonight Pidge. I just...I need a shower... “ he padded out of the room with a heavy sigh, grabbing his towel from the room before slipping into the bathroom.

“Lance and Keith. Sittin in a tree. Ho-mo-sex-u-al-i-ty”

“Pidge, go to bed…”

\-----------------

The shower lasted longer than Keith anticipated. By the time he stepped out his fingers were pruney and the water had run cold. He scrubbed the water out of his hair with his towel as he wiped the remaining steam off the mirror. He could only wonder how a figure like this had passed for female, even with Pidge’s careful photo taking.

He was skinny but pretty much lacked any sense of curves in his chest or hips. His toned muscles from his workout routine only made him look more masculine. The only thing remotely feminine were his softer facial features and longer hair, although the mullet style didn’t look particularly girly. If they met in person or sent photos, Lance would figure it out instantly.

Despite the rigorous shower he still felt an unsettling sliminess across his body. At this point, he was actively deceiving this guy. There was no other way to look at it now. The thoughts weighing down his mind made Keith’s movements sluggish and a bit uncoordinated. He disregarded brushing his teeth for now and simply stumbled back to his room.

The click of Kosmo’s claws followed him down the hall and Keith held the door open for the dog to join him. Kosmo quickly took his spot at the foot of Keith’s bed, sitting attentively as Keith pulled on a pair of shorts to sleep in and chucked the damp towel into his hamper. He slipped under the covers and breathed out a heavy sigh, not bothering to check his phone as he plugged it in to charge for the night.

He felt Kosmo shift on the bed and opened his eyes when he felt light puffs of air on his face. Kosmo cocked his head at him before leaning in to lick his face. Keith let out a small groan and nudged him away, using his other hand to wipe the drool off his face. “I’m fine, buddy...I just need some rest…” Kosmo squirmed past from the hand pushing him away and licked his cheek again.

“Kosmo…” Keith gently grabbed his snout. Kosmo pulled back again and sat down on Keith’s legs, eventually settling his entire body onto Keith. “Kosmooooo…” Keith groaned. His arms were pinned under his heavy frame so he couldn’t stop the dog from attacking him with slobbery kisses. Keith sighed and let it happen.

Eventually, Kosmo stopped but remained laying on top of his master. Keith never made a move to shove him off. The weight and warmth of his fur was comforting and helped to lull Keith to sleep. Damn mutt seemed almost psychic sometimes…

\-----------------

**‘So, how are things on your end?’**

**‘Physics test, I’m waiting on a friend so we can chill for a while’**

**‘Of course, you’re already done’**

**‘Yep, totally aced it’**

**‘Wish I could say the same for Lance and I. He was actually studying for once but then he went and got all girl crazy’**

**‘You don’t say’**

**‘.... what did you do’**

**‘That’s a weird response’**

**‘Pidge. Whenever you say “you don’t say” you’re up to something. I can tell when you’re scheming!’**

**‘Hunk! I would never!’**

**‘Don’t toy with his heart. I’m serious. He’s really sensitive about this kind of stuff’**

**‘Sorry to say but I didn’t actually plan this. Whatever happens isn’t really in my hands.’**

**‘What do you mean?’**

**‘You know Keith, right?’**

“Hey, did you bring it?” Pidge glanced up from her phone as Keith approached, his body wilting from mental exhaustion. His lifeless eyes masked under his thick bangs and hoodie jacket. Pidge pat her bag that held her game console.

“Let’s hope one of the TVs are open. How’d you do on that test?”

“You just want to ask so you can brag…”

“Only a little. Seriously though, are you okay? You look dead.”

Keith shrugged and dragged his bangs out of his eyes only for them to fall right back into place. “When you’re contemplating a relationship with someone who thinks you’re a girl you don’t tend to sleep very much.” Pidge lightly punched his shoulder as they made their way to the common area.

“Stop worrying, you can’t beat my test scores but you’re smart enough to figure this out.”

“At least I can beat you in Super Bash.”

Pidge turned back to him with a near offended look. “Alright tough guy, you haven’t won today yet.”

Keith took a seat at one of the common area tables, resting his head on the table as Pidge fussed with the cables to get everything to work. She turned back and nudged Keith’s head with her spare controller to pull him back to reality. Keith took the controller and sat up, mindlessly circling the character select screen.

“So are you going to tell him?” The rhythmic sound of Keith scrolling through the character options faltered for a moment. Keith bit his lower lip before releasing an exhausted sigh.

“I...I dunno… I don’t want to lie to him but...no one’s ever actually been...interested in me before.” Keith blushed slightly as his voice lowered to a shy mutter. Pidge bit her tongue on saying anything to mock him. Now wasn’t the time.

Keith let out a heavy sigh and leaned against the back of the chair. “Actually, I’m gonna get something to drink before we play. I’ll be right back.” Keith slipped from the chair and unzipped the front pocket of his bag to find his wallet. “Don’t you dare start the match before I get back.” He plucked a few bills from his wallet before wandering off in the direction of the nearby vending machines.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Pidge let out an amused hum and rested her elbows on the table. Her eyes drifted over to the scratched up smartphone resting on the table beside her. She glanced back at Keith as his body turned the corner before she leaned over to snatch the phone. A quick tap of the power button brought his notification to her prying eyes. He had a seemingly endless stack of notifications from Lance cluttering up his background. She tapped on them and was immediately brought to the password screen.

She narrowed her eyes at the keypad and thought. What would Keith choose for his passcode? Her fingers hovered over the screen as she briefly checked to make sure Keith was still gone. “0-0-0….0. Wait, that worked?” She had been half joking when she input that code but it actually unlocked his phone.

**‘Hey, look, I really want to meet you. Midterms have been the death of me and I really just want a day to relax and hang out with someone. It doesn’t have to be a date but you’re really cool and I wanna see you. Text me back. :)’**

That was the last message from Lance. Judging by the long string of unanswered messages Keith had been trying to run away from his problems, again. A devious grin crossed her face as she went into his settings. “Maybe a little...technical malfunction will get you moving with this relationship.”

\-----------------

“Grah! C’mon!” Keith snarled as he hit the screen of the vending machine, the arm inside holding his drink was moving at an agonizingly slow rate and being extremely jerky. He should have just gone to another building for a vending machine, given that this one’s nasty and uncooperative nature is nothing new. Keith slumped against the opposite wall with a frustrated groan. “Please...my life’s already falling apart over my stupid phone. Can you just give me a break?”

“Talking to the vending machine?”

Keith’s body tensed against the brick as he turned to see someone else peering into the hallway. “Yeah, I get that. Let me help you with that…” The tanned, lanky, young man stepped over to the vending machine and gave the side a swift kick. The jostling shook the mechanism just enough to get the bottle to slide into the opening where it could be easily retrieved. The man picked up the bottle and outstretched it to Keith. “It’s no big. You just gotta learn the tricks.”

Keith outstretched a shaky hand to take the can, trying to avoid showing his blushing face from under his hood. He recognized that face almost instantly from the photo yesterday. Lance was here. Lance was talking to him. Lance was somehow even more attractive in person.

Lance’s eyes caught the shakiness in the stranger’s hand and stayed patient until they had a solid grip on the bottle. Keith went to thank him until a bubble of air caught in his throat and his quiet show of gratitude flopped out as a loud painful cough.

“Dude, are you okay?” Lance stepped closer in case he was choking on something.

“F-fine” Keith slipped away from him and sprinted down the hall. He whipped around the corner, clutching his drink as his face burned with embarrassment. His paces slowed as he grew more confident that Lance hadn’t followed him before he let out a heavy sigh. He tugged at his bangs as he threaded his fingers into his hair.

“Hey, there you are.” Keith jumped and bit and held back a yelp as he heart jumped right back into panic mode.

“Jesus fuck, Pidge!”  he shot a glare at his smaller friend as she approached.

“Seriously, are you okay? You were gone a while.” Pidge cocked her head and adjusted her glasses.

“I’m fine Pidge...just don’t sneak up on me like tha-aAHH!” He screwed open the bottle cap of his drink only to be squirted in the face by the overly shaken carbonated syrup. His squeal in surprise and pain of the carbonation in his eye was shockingly high pitched and made more than a few others in the room turn their heads. Pidge failed to stifle her laugh but it wasn’t like she really tried to.

\-----------------

**‘...I really just want a day to relax and hang out with someone. It doesn’t have to be a date but you’re really cool and I wanna see you. Text me back. :)’**

**‘hey sorry i didn’t know you texted earlier’**

**‘It’s fine like I said school’s been kicking my ass so I’ve been sleeping most of the day anyway.’**

Right, Keith knew they were going to the same school now. Shit…

**‘Sooooo are you cool with like a coffee date on Friday? Maybe dinner?’**

Keith bit his lip. He needed an excuse fast.

**‘i’m sorry. you’re a really nice guy. it’s just really nerve-racking when we haven’t seen each other in person yet.’**

Keith’s eyes were drawn to his laptop screen as a video chat request came in from Pidge. He tapped blindly at his phone to send the message without looking it over again before grabbing his mouse to answer Pidge. “What’s up, Pidge?”

Pidge sat in her cluttered room, a bowl of ramen held up to her face. “Just thought I’d check in. You were really off your game today.”

“Well, I did have soda in my eye…”

“If you were really trying you could’ve beat me blind. Have you talked to Lance anymore today?”

“I just was actually… He asked about a date this weekend but..” Keith sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “I just can’t do it...It’s too risky…”

Pidge cocked her head, needing to concentrate to keep a neutral look on her face. “You sure about that?”

Keith looked back up at her and raised an eyebrow. His eyes drifted back to his phone which had vibrated a few more times by now. He picked it up and read the conversation back.

**‘Sooooo are you cool with like a coffee date on Friday? Maybe dinner?’**

**‘i actually really want to go on a date with you. you’re a really nice guy. it’s just really nerve-racking when we haven’t seen each other in person yet.’**

**‘Really?? No joke?? That’s awesome!’**

**‘Oh, and if you feel uncomfortable don’t worry about it. I can leave the planning to you if it helps.’**

The color drained from Keith’s face as he read over his own text again. There is no way in hell he typed yes!

“You know...you should start being more honest with him, and learn how to use your shift key, you animal,” Pidge commented, delightfully taking in Keith’s look of shock.

“Wh-what did you do?!”

“You know autocorrect is a really entertaining feature if you know how to use it. I just had to guess what you would say and replace that.” Pidge shrugged as if she didn't just add another mile to the hole Keith had dug for himself.

“PIDGE!!”

“You were never going to say yes regardless of how long you kept this up! Admit it! As your friend, I feel obligated to give a little kick when you need it and right now, you desperately need it.”

“I can’t just walk up to meet him and pray he doesn’t know I’m a GUY!”

Pidge clicked her tongue in disapproval. “Oh Keith, ye of little faith… I’ll tell you what, I’ll get you out this mess since I technically also put you in it. Agree to a Friday dinner date and we’ll handle the rest.”

“We?”

“Bold of you to assume I didn’t do this without a plan in mind.”


	4. Chapter 4

Keith glared at the autocorrect settings as he deleted the unauthorized changes. Pidge still had yet to reveal what she was planning for this forced dinner date tonight. He groaned and went to put his phone down before it buzzed with a message.

**‘Here’s my address. You’re coming by around 5 right?’**

Keith sighed and read over the address as he responded.

**‘yeah, see you then’**

Just as he sent the reply another message came in from Pidge.

**‘We’ll be there in like 15 min. Get your lazy ass out of bed.’**

Keith set his phone on his bedside table and ignored the message. He drew the blankets closer and rolled over to face the wall, secretly hoping the blankets would suffocate him before they arrived. He curled up tighter when he heard Shiro buzz Pidge inside and open the door for her.

“Should I be concerned what all that stuff is?” Shiro questioned, raising an eyebrow at a box filled what appeared to be beauty products and clothing.

“Don’t worry about it. Is Keith here?” Pidge took long strides towards Keith’s room, carefully stepping over Kosmo curled up in the hallway before loudly kicking open the door. “Wake up sleepy head!” She carefully stepped over his dirty laundry crumbled up on the floor and set her foot on Keith’s back.

He groaned in response and tried to squirm away but soon enough Pidge was digging into the blankets to find his legs and drag him off the bed. Keith gripped the far corner of the mattress and yelled out in protest as Pidge’s vice grip on his ankles pulled at him. He was laid horizontally across the bed with his feet limply touching the floor when a second pair of hands grabbed his waist.

“Katie, get his hands!” On cue, Pidge crawled onto the bed and started to pry at his fingers to make him let go. Keith tried to tighten his grip but he was suddenly launched backwards, toppling to the floor with a thud and pulling the bedsheets off with him. Keith glared up at Pidge’s taller doppelganger still holding onto him. “Hey Keith,” Matt smirked. “sleep well?” 

"Your sister is a demon…” Keith muttered as Matt let go of him. He slowly got to his feet and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as the Holt's ushered him out of the room. Shiro bit back a snicker at the chaos as Keith was dragged before him.

"Morning, Keith!" he greeted cheerfully as if all of this was entirely normal. Keith let out a defeated groan and ran his fingers through his disheveled hair.

Matt held up a brown sack that he had placed on the table as if to entice him. “I brought food,” Keith responded with an annoyed, tired grunt. “and coffee” Keith sighed and slumped into a chair at the table. He snatched the cup of coffee and took a long swig as Matt offered him the breakfast sandwich from the bag.

“So, are you going to tell me what this crazy plan of yours is yet?” Keith narrowed his eyes at Pidge who sat down beside him.

Pidge nudged the sandwich closer to him. “Eat, then we'll get started. You can't be prepped for your date on an empty stomach.” Keith glanced nervously between the two siblings, both staring back with sly smirks. A thin air of fear formed over Keith's head.

**'If you seriously think you're going to pull this off you better be ready for Lance to hate you for the rest of your life.’**

**'Maybe me too but...idk I can't stay mad at you Pidge. I don't like holding grudges’**

**'Hunk, calm down. I've got this. I'll talk to you later I need both my hands to pin Keith down for this’**

**'Wait what?!’**

“A-ahhh!” Keith panted heavily as the scream was ripped from his throat. His legs trembled as they were pinned to the couch, ankles held tightly to keep him from kicking.

“Aww, Keith are you crying? It can't hurt that bad.” Matt cooed.

“Sh-shut up…” Keith shivered as he turned to bury his face in the cool leather beneath him, his body sinking into the couch as Pidge applied another wax strip to his chest.

“Ready, Keith?”

“You guys su-aaahh!!” His squirming grew more violent as the few hairs that adorned his chest and legs were ripped away, leaving only his smooth pale skin.

“Alright, you big baby we're almost done. Just hold still while I get your face.” Pidge smirked as she pinned his head to the couch.

“I already shaved Pidge!” Keith protested as Pidge brushed the wax onto his chin.

“Just being thorough.” Keith let out another pained yelp as Pidge yanked off the strip before finally letting him go. Keith sighed in relief as his body went limp and the Holts let go of his limbs. “Alright, drop the shorts! We have to get everywhere.” Pidge announced with a devious grin.

“Wha-NO!!” Keith tightly gripped the waistband of his shorts, an embarrassed blush creeping onto his face.

“Pfft! Chill, I'm joking. But seriously off with the clothes. You need to change.” Pidge scampered over to the box and pulled out a pile of dresses as well as a bag containing stockings, jewelry and...oh god.

“Pidge did you…did you bring panties with you?!”

Pidge shrugged and placed the unopened underwear package on the pile in her arms. “You're already wearing a dress. You might as well get the full effect.” Keith groaned and buried his face in his hands.

“I hate you…”

Pidge shoved the clothing into his arms and nudged him towards his room. “Get dressed, princess.” Keith groaned in response and shuffled away with the outfits.

He laid the clothes out on his disheveled bed and discarded his shorts as he looked them over. It was in the moment it dawned on him the lengths he was going to for Lance. His skin still stung from the waxing, and after this, he’d most likely be drenched in makeup and little girly bows. He almost reached for the clothes in his dresser instead of the array of dresses. Doing all this wasn’t worth the humiliation! But...Lance was desperately looking forward to this date. He sounded so eager and had even tried to move their meet up time up so he wouldn’t have to wait. Boy or girl, Lance wanted to meet him. Turning him down now would only break his heart.

Keith exhaled a stressed sigh before turning back to the heap of clothes on his bed. Like with any task, the hardest part is the first part. In this case, the first part was underwear. Keith could at least be grateful that the underwear wasn’t used. Because otherwise it totally wasn’t weird that he was currently shimmying his way into a pair of maroon colored women’s underwear!

That fabric was surprisingly soft on his skin; Keith had to take a moment to marvel at this. It was so comfy and lightweight, the elasticity of it keeping any one place from feeling restrictive, despite it not being designed with him in mind. It was never a thought that crossed his mind but there it was, Keith Kogane was jealous of women’s panties.

Next, he looked to his dress options, which were much more obviously obtained from a closet raiding. The one that caught his eye first was a simple, long-sleeved black dress with a sewed on belt. Simplistic and not too girly was exactly what he was looking for. He unzipped the back and stepped into it, pulling up over his chest he had an unfortunate realization. There was no way in hell that the slim dress would accommodate his broader shoulders.

After a few minutes of squirming in the restrictive fabric he eventually gave up and dropped the dress at his feet, sleeves would clearly be a no go for him. He dug further into the clothing pile until he found a dress with straps in place of them. He pulled it fully from the pile and looked it over.

It was a white dress with red straps, the skirt of it forming into three large ruffled sections, each lined in the same shade of red. On the waist of the dress was a thick, red strip of fabric wrapped around it and tied into a large bow in the back. It even had a matching bow hair clip pinned to the collar of the dress. It was much more girly than he would have preferred but unfortunately, it was the only dress he was confident he’d fit into.

He pulled the dress over his head and squirmed inside, flailing his arms a bit blindly until his head breached the collar of the dress. He snaked his arms past the straps and pulled the dress down until it was properly set on his body. He sat down on his bed and began picking through the stockings when a knock came to his bedroom door.

“Hey Keith, you decent?” Pidge asked from behind the door.

“Not emotionally but my junk’s covered if that’s what you’re asking.” Keith huffed as he began to slip a pair of crimson socks onto his legs. Pidge opened the door with Shiro and Matt standing behind her, a black case in her hands.

“Hey, that’s pretty cute! I still wouldn’t hit it but it’s cute.”

Keith narrowed his eyes. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, Matt…” he casually flipped him off after fiddling with the socks.

“So, are you wearing heels too?” Shiro mused as he looked over the remaining clothes on the bed. Sure enough, there was a pair of black heels in the pile. Pidge snickered as Keith shot them another glare.

“We mostly threw those in as a joke. There’s no way he could handle heels.”

Keith stood up and took the shoes from the pile. “Is that a challenge shortie?”

Pidge responded with a smug look as Keith put the shoes down on the floor and slipped his feet into them.

“How’s it feel?” Shiro asked, noticing Keith’s legs trembling unsteadily.

“God these fucking hurt! Do girls just not have feeling in their toes?” Keith hissed through his teeth as his toes were already being pinched from the constrictive shoes.

“You think girls have toes?” Pidge retorted.

“Well let’s see you walk,” Matt ordered. Keith drew his focus back to his feet as he stepped forward, his steps staying stilted and vertical to try to keep from landing off balance. The awkward effort was in vain, however, as he only managed 4 steps before he planted his foot wrong and fell.

A short, embarrassing yelp left his throat as Shiro lunged forward to grab his arm, helping to lower his roommate to his knees. The Holt’s giggled at Keith’s failure as he growled and kicked off the torture shoes. “Fuck it, I’m wearing my combat boots.”

“Yeah, that’s a better idea,” Matt said between soft laughs. Shiro helped Keith to his feet and back onto the bed as Pidge joined them and opened the case.

“So what now?” Keith asked as he peered over her shoulder.

“Hair and makeup! Duh…” Pidge smirked as she started handing off brushes and makeup palettes to Matt and Shiro.

“Shiro since when were you involved in all this?” Keith asked as Shiro scanned the palette to find the best contrast for Keith’s oddly violet eyes.

“Shiro’s really the only one with makeup experience around here. So I asked if he’d help out.” Matt answered as he maneuvered behind Keith to start combing through his hair.

Keith blinked in surprise. “Seriously? How??”

“Well...you know the supportive gay friend stereotype? That was me in high school. I actually had girls begging me to help with their makeup.” Shiro chuckled as he gently gripped Keith’s face to angle it properly.

“I had him do it to me once for shits and giggles. Dude is a wizard with eyeliner.” Matt commented as he gestured for Pidge to hand him the spray bottle.

“Huh...can you do that for me?” Keith asked.

“Sure Keith, just try to stop moving around. Matt, get the hair out of his face for a minute.” Matt obliged as Shiro took up the eyeshadow brush and ordered Keith to close his eyes. In the darkness, Keith felt the brush delicately brush back and forth on his eyelid while fingers combed through his now slightly damp hair. He opened his eyes back up when Shiro told him to, letting his eyes follow Shiro’s hand as he shook up the eyeliner bottle when his eyes adjusted to the light.

“Try not to blink, alright?” Shiro muttered as he unscrewed the cap. Keith hummed in understanding and forced his eyes to stay wide despite the ink-stained brush headed straight to his eye. His body tensed to avoid flinching away or getting the brush jabbed his eye as Shiro traced his thin lashes into a heavy black wing. Keith managed to calm down as Shiro created the other wing, checking over him constantly to make sure they were even.

The room stayed silent as Matt shifted to readjust his bangs and Shiro started rifling through his choices for lipstick and blush. Keith gently let his eyes fall closed again, pursing his lips and tilting his head as they needed until they finished.

He felt pressure leave his mattress as they stood up to admire their work. “Well, Pidge?” Matt asked. Pidge hummed in thought before approaching Keith.

Keith felt a few stray bangs draw away from his face as Pidge clipped them in place. “Perfect… Check it out, Keith.”

Keith opened his eyes again as Pidge dug a mirror from the box and held it in front of his face. His skin was flawless with a soft dusting of light blush against his cheeks. His hot pink eyeshadow and fuller lashes gave his eyes a seductive glint and his hair was now pulled back from his shoulders and suspended slightly from copious amounts of hairspray to hide his natural mullet. All with a cute little bow clipped to his hairline to keep his bangs out of his face.

Keith felt his complaints of “are we done now?” die in his throat as he stared at himself. Even if he could technically refuse to go, the amount of work put into his look told him there was no turning back from this point.

“What do you think?” Shiro asked.

“I’m...wow. This might actually work…” Keith muttered as he drew his eyes away from the mirror. As Pidge cleaned up the makeup supplies Keith’s eyes drifted to his chest and an uncomfortable question pricked his mind. “So...what about my chest? Won’t he notice... _ this _ ?” Keith vaguely gestured to his chest.

Pidge looked back at him and simply pat her own flat chest. “He might be disappointed but I doubt he’ll figure it out from that.”

“Seriously? That’s all you got?”

“Hey, this was a little last minute. We couldn’t exactly get you a top of the line drag queen costume so too bad. No tits for you!”

Matt snickered before turning back to Keith. “Although...your voice…” Keith blanched, he hadn’t even thought of that issue.

“Can I act like I’m mute?” he asked, earning a laugh from Shiro.

“I don’t think you have to go that far. Try raising your pitch a little.”

“Like this?” Keith said, his voice sounding unnaturally harmless compared to his normal deep and brooding tone.

“Higher.”

“This?”

“Can you go even more?”

Keith attempted this but only a shrill squeak came out of his throat before he started coughing. Shiro stopped himself from giggling and waited for him to stop. “Okay, try again but try being softer, more breathy.” Despite Shiro’s odd request, Keith tried to convey what he was asking for.

“Uh..this?”

“Hey, that doesn’t sound too bad,” Matt commented.

“You think this will work?” Keith whispered, trying to get used to talking like this.

“As long as you don’t fuck up? Probably.”

“He-!” Keith coughed again as he raised his voice.

“Just keep yourself from having to yell with that pitch and you should be fine. If all else fails just say you’re under the weather.” Matt suggested. Keith nodded and got to his feet, finally taking a chance to look at his full outfit in the mirror. He fumbled with the ruffles of the dress as he looked at the outfit from as many angles as he could. Something still didn’t look right.

“Shit, Keith, you need to leave soon don’t you?” Matt commented as he checked the time on his phone. Sure enough, it was almost time for him to meet his fate. Keith rushed to his closet and pulled out his old combat boots and plopped down in his desk chair to lace them up. He eyed the leather jacket hanging in his closet as he got up before snatching it while he grabbed his phone and keys.

Shiro followed him as he headed for the door, the Holt’s staying behind to clean up the rest of their things. “Keith, I can give you a ride if you don’t want to handle it in a dress.”

“I’ll be fine, Shiro. Just remember to feed Kosmo in case I get back late.” Keith huffed as he zipped his phone into his jacket pocket before pulling on the fingerless biker gloves tucked away in the opposite pocket.

“Keith…” he stopped at Shiro’s stricter tone and turned to face him. “I’m helping you this one time. I expect by the end of the night you tell him the truth.” Keith let his eyes drift away, only responding with a faint hum. “Keith, listen to me. You know you can’t keep up a lie like this if you keep going out with him.”

“Shiro, it’s one date. Let me handle this.” the coldness in Keith’s eyes told Shiro to back down for the time being and he simply watched in silence as Keith shut the door behind him.

\-----------------

**‘Are you on your way?’**

Lance let out a whine in the back of his throat as he paced outside on the porch of his apartment. He stared intensely at the unanswered message as the minutes ticked by. As it drew closer and closer to 5 o’clock he debated going back inside to wait in his room until Katie showed up. His train of thought faded as a pair of headlights caught his attention, the rumble of a motorcycle filled his ears as the vehicle took a sharp turn into the parking lot and rolled into one of the empty spaces.

The figure on the bike pulled their phone out to briefly check something before taking out the key and slipping off the seat. Lance felt himself panic for a brief second as the biker approached him until he noticed they were wearing a dress. The biker pulled the helmet off their head, looking him over with gorgeous violet eyes. “Are you...Lance?” they breathed out his name oh so elegantly. It only took one look at their flowing locks of shiny black hair to know it was her.

Lance felt his heart jolt awkwardly like a sputtering old car as he straightened his spine. “K-Katie! Hey...” he choked out as his cheeks flushed. Her beautiful scarlet lips curled into a soft smile.

“So, you ready to go?” she asked, offering a second motorcycle helmet to him. Lance nearly felt his legs give out as he nodded. If he was going to die tonight at least it would be with a girl this beautiful.


	5. Chapter 5

Lance followed Keith toward his bike, the bright red catching his eyes along with the white racing stripes. The white paint was slightly chipped, revealing that it was clearly a home modification. The back end had a small pouch littered with band and general punk aesthetic stickers. The click of Kate’s boots stopped as she nudged the spare helmet towards him again. Lance finally took the helmet and pulled it onto his head. It was slightly oversized but it would work.

“Sorry if it doesn’t fit right. It’s my roommate’s.” Kate pointed out, voice still in an addicting soft tone.

“It’s alright, mind if I use this for my stuff. I don’t really trust my pockets.” Lance smiled and gently nudged the zipped pouch on the back of the bike. Keith nodded as he pulled his leg up and straddled the bike, being careful not to rattle it so Lance could put his stuff away. He felt the bike shift as Lance sat behind him, blushing slightly as he felt Lance’s body heat on his back as he inched close enough to sit comfortably on the seat.

“Alright, hang on…” and with that final warning, Keith set the key back in the ignition. The bike roared to life as Keith revved the engines a bit, admittingly only doing it to look cool. He gently backed out of the parking space and readjusted his gloves before peeling out into the street and hitting the gas hard.

Lance let out an audible yelp as he scrambled for a more solid grip to keep from flying off. His arms wound tight around Kate’s waist, his head coming to rest on her shoulder. The surrounding buildings became a blur as they tore towards the major road, smoothly coming to a stop at the red light. Lance glanced up from his shaking hands when he heard her give a soft giggle. “You okay?” she asked, briefly glancing behind to look at him.

Lance blushed softly and nodded. “Heh, sorry about that, just not used to riding on motorcycles…” he shifted more until his hold on her was comfortable.

Keith blushed at the feeling of Lance’s arms around his torso and his head moving to lay on his back, accelerating at a slower rate once the light turned green for his sake. Lance relished in the brief comfort it gave him before realizing that Kate’s skirt was blowing up in the back, right into his face.

She didn’t seem to notice at all as they sped through the crowded city, even as the heavy ruffles teasingly brushed Lance’s chin. They were practically begging for Lance to peek. He swallowed hard and very gently pulled one hand back from around her middle and placed it firmly between the two of them to hold down the dress. The heavy evening wind did nothing to dissipate the heat across his face as Kate remained oblivious to the wardrobe malfunction. Lance could only pray she wasn’t having the same issue in the front but his cheeks still burned at the thought. A harsher stop snapped Lance out of his thoughts, pushing his body closer to Kate’s.

“This is the place...” Kate said as she glanced back at him. Lance managed to briefly tear his eyes away from her captivating face to see the small restaurant they were parked in front of. It was a compact and brightly lit place with more than enough people milling about to consider it crowded but there were just enough vacant tables visible that they wouldn’t need to wait.

Keith sighed as he dismounted the bike. He’d hunted down Shiro’s boyfriend online the other night to ask about good first date spots. Adam had been helpful enough to offer up where he and Shiro had their most successful date in his opinion. Keith wasn’t sure whether or not he was praying for whatever rainbow colored spark that made this such a great place for Shiro and Adam to still be here or not.

“Ready to go in, m’lady?” Lance held out his arm with a cheesy smirk as he passed in front of her after grabbing his things from the bike. Keith failed to push back a snicker and shyly took hold of his arm, red beginning to dust his cheeks.

They walked in sync as if it were second nature, Lance only briefly walking ahead to pull open the door for her. The door shook but refused to budge despite Lance’s force. After a few tugs, Lance noticed the sign next to the handle, ‘push’. Shit. A hot wave of embarrassment briefly washed over his face as he pushed the door open with hardly any effort. Keith stepped in while Lance held the door, a waitress with long blonde twin tails scrambling to meet them at the counter. “Hello! Table for two?”

Keith nodded, still hesitant to speak. Lance may appear fooled for now but he didn’t trust other people not to figure it out. She set the menus down at one of the empty booths and stepped back to let them sit down. “I’ll have someone with you in a moment.”

Keith shuffled into the booth as she left, the strange feeling of cold leather against his bare legs sending a chill up his spine. Lance looked around the restaurant decor with a soft smile, the low sun peering through the window and bathing everything in a golden glow. “This is nice...where’d you find this place?” Keith jumped as he was pulled from his thoughts.

“Just...through a friend…” he muttered. Lance’s gaze fell to the menu, his skin practically glowing in the beautiful light. Keith blushed and held his own menu to his face to hide it.

“Lance?”

Lance looked up at the familiar call of his name. “Wha-? Allura!” he grinned at the silver-haired waitress that approached the table. “Oh my god, it’s been forever. I didn’t know you worked here.”

Allura shrugged and smiled back at him, her voice posh and elegant. “It really has been too long.” Keith quirked an eyebrow at her as the two friends reluctantly put away the small talk and Allura took their drink orders. As she left Lance let out a sigh and turned back to Kate.

“Sorry, Allura she’s...kinda my ex. High school sweetheart type of thing. It wasn't all that serious.”

“oh…” Keith felt his heart sink a little. They seemed to get along pretty well.

“Don’t worry, she’s not the jealous type! Plus we broke it off a while ago. We’re just friends and even then we don’t talk much.” Kate nodded in understanding but clearly looked uneasy. Lance groaned and ran his fingers through his bangs. “Okay, bad topic to get on. I know. Sorry about that Kate…”

Keith managed a smile at Lance’s nervous and adorable fidgeting. “Don’t worry about it…” A tense silence fell over them as their eyes fell to the menu to choose their meal.

“So...you’re in school right?” Keith glanced back up at Lance when he spoke. “Where at?”

Keith bit the inside of his cheek, tempted to lie. But he had lied enough for one day. “I’m studying aeronautics at Altea…”

“Really? No way, me too! I can’t believe we haven’t bumped into each other already. Must have different schedules.”

“Yeah, crazy…” Keith took his drink as Allura set it on the table, taking a long sip to avoid needing to talk. He’d seen Lance in class by now, he was lucky they sat on opposite ends of the lecture hall but still. It was impossible for Lance not to have seen what he normally looks like. Did he already figure it out and was just toying with him? A gentle tap on his shoulder snapped him out of it.

“You gonna order, Kate?”

“R-Right, sorry…” Keith blushed. Allura took the order and left, bringing awkward silence over the couple yet again.

“You holding up okay, Kate? You seem a little spacey..” Lance asked with a worried frown.

“I just...have a lot on my mind, you know? I’ve never really been on a date before…” Keith sighed, twirling the straw around the edge of his glass.

“Never?” Keith shook his head in response. “Wow, you should’ve told me. I would’ve made this more special for you. I could have at least dressed up a little more.” Lance said, tugging at his thin dress shirt. “Suit and tie, candlelight, I’d take you for one of those dinners so expensive I’d fall behind on my rent.”

Keith let out a small laugh and blushed. “You don’t have to go that far…” he held his hands up to motion for him to slow down.

“Actually, I do.” Lance smiled and took both of Keith’s hands in his own. “Someone like you deserves a nice night out.”

Keith blushed as he felt the warmth of Lance’s hands blanketing his. “This is already pretty nice…”

Lance’s face turned red as well and he let go of Keith’s hands to cover his cheeks. “Oh my god…”

Keith gave the blushing boy a cocky smirk. “You okay there?”

“I’m weak…you’re so cute.” Lance whined, Keith snickering in response.

“You know my roommate always told me ‘it’s easy to dish out what’s hard to swallow.’ He tries to act like some sage of wisdom but honestly, I think he just got that off a fortune cookie.”

Lance laughed as the blush faded from his cheeks. “So you’re roomie’s a guy? What’s he like?”

Keith cocked an eyebrow. “Jealous?”

“N-No! I’m just curious…” Lance crossed his arms.

“Don’t worry your pretty little head about it. He’s actually gay.”

Lance dramatically flopped onto the table. “Oh thank god…” Keith giggled at his antics and took another sip of his drink.

“Seriously though, I wanna know. You never talk that much about your personal life. Like your family and stuff.” Lance looked back up at her from his position still sprawled over the table.

Keith glanced away, shoulders tensing. “Well, I’ve never really had much of a family… I was an orphan for most of my life…” Lance’s smile fell, he almost tried to back out of his request until Kate continued. “I was never...well behaved, especially when I got into high school. I remember I got into a fight with some asshole freshman year and this senior was the first one there to break it up. It’s how we met.” Keith smiled faintly.

“He broke up a fight for you as a freshman? Must’ve been some fight if you guys wanted to share a place…”

“The fight wasn’t really the important part. He was the first person to really...help me. We agreed once I was 18 he’d let me move in.”

“Wow, I...sorry I never knew you’d been through so much…” Lance looked away, somewhat ashamed for how often he’d mentioned his own family over text. Keith shrugged as Allura came back to set their food down.

“It’s all in the past. Honestly, if anything I’m more of the man of the house than he is.” he giggled before slapping a hand over his mouth, shit he just let it slip!

Lance laughed as he tested a bite of his food. “Really? How so?” Keith’s heart stopped trying to rip it’s way out of his chest when he realized he didn’t notice.

“Well there was a time where he felt like...a god almost. He was so much older and wiser. Now that we’re both in our twenties it feeling like you could store his brain on a cheap USB drive.” they shared a laugh as Keith continued. “He’s a great guy but I think I idolized him too much back then… Shiro was a just as much a dumb teenager as I was. Impulsive, reckless, a complete dork. He’s the one that wanted a motorcycle in the first place. I just use it more now.”

Lance smiled, entranced by her voice as the world faded away and she had his full attention. Keith eventually stopped and blushed slightly. “Sorry, kinda rambled for a while…” he finally started to eat his food to try and get himself to shut up.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m glad you’re opening up.” Lance beamed so sweet that Keith lost track of where his fork was, cringing and holding back a waterfall of curses when he absentmindedly bit into the metal instead of the food on it.

The meal went by uneventful. The two of them exchanging more about themselves in between bites. As Lance concluded a nearly 15-minute rant about this one sci-fi show after Keith dared to call it a kids cartoon, Keith excused himself to the bathroom. He had to turn on his heel to keep from automatically drifting into the boys' bathroom. He shyly slipped into the girls' room, the lack of graffiti and piss stains coming as a genuine surprise. Did people just never clean the men’s room ever? He leaned against the side of one of the stalls and sighed, pulling his phone out of his jacket pocket. 

**‘How’s the date going, Princess?’**

There was a 50/50 chance that Pidge had changed his contact name to that.

**‘pretty good so far. i don’t think he knows. but his ex is working here and i think she’s suspic’**

Keith jumped as the door swung open, Allura staring him down as she walked up to the sink. 

“Uh…” Keith looked around, trying to find something that wouldn’t make this awkward.

“First date with him, then?” she asked, a surprising lack of malice in her voice. Keith simply nodded. Allura smiled and turned on the faucet to wash her hands. “He’s panicking in the booth, thinking he messed up somehow.”

Keith blinked and blushed slightly. “Really? I actually liked it…”

“He’s not as confident as he pretends he is. It’s quite endearing really.” Allura said, not looking up from her hands as she spoke. “Honestly, you two are cute. You’re much better for him than I was at least.” she shook her hands dry and gave Keith a genuine smile. “I know you didn’t really ask for my opinion but I think you can be a good fit for him. Just try to understand when he’s a bit more...eccentric he’s just trying to impress you.”

Keith smiled back “Thanks for the advice. I honestly really like him.”

“You mentioned Shiro earlier. Takashi, right?”

“Yeah, that’s him.” 

“If you want to stay in touch he might still have my number. Have a nice night, Kate.” Allura waved as she left to get back to work, Keith staying there a few more moments before going back to the booth, the check already paid for by the time he got back.

“You paid for both of us?” Keith raised an eyebrow.

“Least I could do for you choosing such a nice place.” Lance stood up with a handsome smile and offered his hand. “Wanna walk around the city for a while?”

\-----------------

They walked without hurry, window shopping and enjoy each others company. The soft light of the street lamps made Kate’s eyes sparkle, like a spider web speckled with dew and Lance was most definitely ensnared in it. Lance felt a shiver race up his spine as a cold gust of wind blew past them, his hand shooting to his arms to try and get some friction and warm them up. “Wow, it got cold fast. I should’ve brought a coat or something…”

Keith hummed in agreement before shrugging his leather jacket, revealing his pale shoulders as he wriggled his arms out of it. “Here, if you’re that cold take mine.” Keith offered the jacket to him.

Lance hesitated but took the coat, it was a bit small on his body but the thick material warmed him quickly. “Aren’t you cold though? You’re less covered than I am.”

Keith shrugged as the stood at the crosswalk. “I don’t get cold all that easily.”

“Well, what kind of date would I be if I didn’t offer you some kind of warmth?” Lance smirked as he opened the jacket, offering his body heat to share. Keith blushed but shifted to lean against him as they crossed the street. As Keith wrapped his arm around Lance’s back he felt the man stiffen again. “Ah! Kate, your hand is freezing!” Keith snickered, he may or may not have intentionally slipped his hand up Lance’s shirt.

They eventually separated once they returned to Keith’s bike. Part of Keith didn’t want to end the date so soon but he was exhausted from being so social over the last few hours. Even if it was good company, he needed a full night’s sleep to recover.

They rode back to Lance’s apartment, Keith trying not to be too distracted from the way Lance squeezed his middle, seeming to use this as an excuse to be close. Even through the thick leather of his jacket, he could still feel Lance’s heat. Lance only let go just before it would’ve been considered weird once Keith parked the bike. Keith dismounted with him to get Shiro’s helmet and properly say goodbye.

“I had a great time tonight...I’m...actually glad I went through with this.” Keith smiled shyly as he took the spare helmet and set it on the bike.

“Me too…” Lance returned the smile, taking Kate’s hands in his own again. “Kate, listen I really want to see you again. You’re not like any girl I’ve met. You’re so funny and cool and just…”

Keith blushed at how close they were if his heart were beating any harder his chest would actually be convulsing. The pounding in his chest distracted him until something soft graced his lips. Electricity raced up his spine as Lance’s lips smothered his own. Keith’s eyes fell heavy as he melted into Lance’s arms as they snaked around his body. He craned his neck and kissed him back, threading his fingers into the ends of Lance’s hair as they stood there, enveloped in each other’s shared breath as the world faded into only abstract shapes.

Just as Keith’s lungs burned for air, a loud blast of heavy rock music snapped the smitten couple back to reality. The startling noise made them jump back from each other, Keith’s reeling head needing a moment to process that his phone was ringing from inside his motorcycle pouch. The ringtone was a heavy j-rock song, Shiro’s custom ringtone.

“I-I I gotta go! Bye Lance!” Keith’s voice squeaked as he scrambled back to his bike, peeling out and roaring down the street before Lance could even process what happened. Keith’s face burned with embarrassment as he easily passed the speed limit. Fuck he just bolted like a coward! Fuck Lance kissed him!  _ Fuck _ he kissed Lance back! And now because of his stupid phone, he’d just left Lance outside his apartment, dumbfounded, with crimson lipstick staining his face and a leather jacket on his shoulders.


	6. Chapter 6

“He's not picking up…” Shiro chewed his bottom lip as he paced the apartment. “What if something happened? I knew he should’ve had him check in every hour!”

“Takashi…” firm hands grabbed Shiro's shoulders to stop him in his tracks. Adam's stern but soft eyes looked over his worried features and softly pecked his lips. “...relax, Keith can handle himself.” Shiro dropped his shoulders and leaned in to embrace the smaller man, nearly knocking Adam over with his body mass. Adam nuzzled the crook of his neck before feeling Shiro's phone vibrate against his back.

Shiro pulled away to check the caller id before answering. “Keith, how's it going?” He could hear the roar of his motorcycle over the phone before Keith's voice was picked up.

“Shiro!! What the hell?!”

Shiro couldn't help the smirk that crossed his face. “Bad time?”

“UGH! I don't know what to do!”

“Are you on your way back?”

Keith huffed as he stopped at a light, the bike jerking harshly from the sudden stop. “Yeah...I'll be home soon.”

“In that case, tell me everything when you get home. I just wanted to check and make sure you were okay.” Shiro motioned for Adam to quiet his snickering.

“Fine, see you soon, Shiro.”

Shiro sighed as he hung up the phone, stuffing it back in his pocket. “Sounds like you have quite the night ahead of you Kashi. Should I give you two some privacy?” Adam said with a teasing smirk.

“If you want to deal with whatever this is about, be my guest.” The two shared a laugh as Adam pressed a kiss to the corner of his lips and grabbed his coat.

“He only listens to you anyway. Plus, I need to head back. Good luck baby…” Shiro smiled and hugged Adam goodbye, only have a few minutes of silence before Keith barged into the apartment, lipstick smudged, dress wrinkled, and some very unsightly helmet hair.

Shiro bit his tongue on making a joke and pat the couch cushion beside him with an inviting smile. “Tell me all about it, Keith…” Keith sighed and flopped over the arm of the couch, awkwardly bent over into Shiro's lap while he buried his face in the cushion. Shiro sighed and ran his fingers through Keith's disheveled hair. “Keith, you know sometimes things just don't work out but-”

“I love him”

Shiro's comforting speech about there being plenty of fish in the sea cut off awkwardly in his throat as he took in what Keith said. After a moment of silence, Keith rolled over to look Shiro in the eyes. “I'm in love with him, Shiro!” Shiro gave a soft smile as he continued. “I've never felt like this. I barely know him but I feel like I can trust him with anything. I...I kissed him and I almost wanted to do that forever!” Keith's face grew hot as he rambled.

Shiro let him vent, a comforting hand still petting his hair. “Keith, I'm happy for you but...did you tell him?” he asked, the blissful look on Keith's face dying at the question.

“No...he still thinks I'm a girl…”

Shiro sighed. “Keith if you really want to keep going out with him he needs to know the truth.”

“There's no other way Shiro! Lance likes girls, this is the only way he'll even notice me!”

Shiro took Keith's wrist and pulled him upright, laying the smaller man against his chest. “I know you're worried about that but you can’t form a relationship on lies. You have to make a choice one way or another.”

“But Shiro-!”

“I know you're worried and I want you to have people you trust other than me. But this will only get worse if you don't tell him the truth…” Keith stayed silent at that as Shiro held him for another moment. “Let's get all this makeup off you. I'm sure you're tired…” Shiro said as he pulled Keith away, dropping the subject yet again. Keith nodded and let Shiro lead him to the bathroom to wash it all off.

Keith hoisted himself onto the bathroom counter as Shiro rubbed a damp cloth against his face, the facade he held wiping clean from his face. “Shiro, you know I can do this myself…” Keith sighed as Shiro rung out the hand towel.

“Aww, I thought princesses loved to be pampered,” Shiro smirked, playing with the frills of his dress and earning a growl from Keith. After a few minutes of stubborn and slightly uncomfortable scrubbing, Shiro left the bathroom to let Keith shower. Keith stayed under the water long after it went cold. He lost all sense of time as everything reeled by him at once. He braced himself against the shower wall and nearly debated sinking down to pitifully lay in the water pooling around his ankles due to the slightly clogged shower drain.

When he finally turned off the water a fresh towel and his sleepwear greeted him on the counter. He hadn’t even heard Shiro sneak in to put them there. As he pulled on his sweatpants a whine came to the door. Keith preemptively crouched before opening the door, being this low to the ground made the inevitable pounce from Kosmo less of a heavy hit. He leaned back, tailbone hitting the wet bathroom rug as Kosmo leapt into his personal space. He whined and licked and wagged his tail, overjoyed by the return of his master.

Keith smiled and took the licks in stride as he pet Kosmo’s head, already damp from the humidity in the small room. “I missed you too, buddy…” he hugged Kosmo’s head before moving back to rise to his feet. Kosmo followed him out of the bathroom, bounding into his room ahead of the man and curling up in his designated place on the bed. Keith slipped in beside him and plugged his phone in, unlocking it briefly to check his messages.

He reluctantly checked if Lance sent anything, the ellipsis icon was at the bottom of their conversation, indicating that Lance was indeed typing something, but it soon faded away and returned a few seconds later. Keith waited patiently until his eyes grew irritated with the light of his phone screen. He gave up and concluded that if Lance sent anything he could read it in the morning. 

\-----------------

A groan came from the other line as Lance impatiently bounced on his toes. “Lance, I was just going to sleep, man. What is it?”

“Hunk! Hunkhunkhunk! I-oh my god!!”

Hunk winced and pulled the phone further away from his ear. “Oh, right you had a date with that Kate girl tonight didn’t you.” A smirk crossed the large man’s face as he propped his head up with his arm. “Sooo, how’d it go?”

Lance beamed as he paced his room. “She’s even more amazing than I imagined! Hunk I think I’m in love!” he spun where he stood, still reeling from their kiss.

“Okay, is this actually being in love or like when you said you were in love with that punk girl that stole your wallet?”

“This is real Hunk! I know it!” Lance whined, not wanting to be reminded about his brief time with Nyma.

“Look, all I’m saying is that…maybe there’s something fishy about all of this. You don’t know.” Hunk sighed, unsure if he’d be kicking himself later for holding his tongue about Pidge’s scheme or not. When there was hardly a response from Lance, Hunk groaned slightly. “You’re not listening to me, are you.”

Lance hummed in response, face buried in the leather jacket in his arms. He’d be nuzzling it hard enough to embed his soul into the fibers if he was trying not to rub off the lipstick still crookedly stained on his face. Another exasperated sigh came from the phone as Lance’s face burned as he thought of Kate.

“Alright you smitten disaster, I need sleep. I have work tomorrow morning. I’ll talk to you later.”

“mmmnight…” the call ended and Lance rolled over to the other side of his bed, squealing into the thick jacket in an attempt to drain out his excitement so he could sleep. Hunk huffed and switched his phone to his messenger and pulled up Pidge’s number, leaving one message before rolling over and going to bed. 

‘You’re in big freaking trouble Katie’

\-----------------

Pidge’s steps were lazy and hesitant as she headed out of class on Monday. Keith had neglected to share many details but it appeared their plan worked. The problem was that Hunk had texted her periodically for the last three days. She saw them. He knew she saw them and she hadn’t made one move to respond back. Maybe she could pretend to be sick and leech a ride off one of her parents since Matt still had class for a few more hours.

“Hey, Pidge!” or not…

She turned on her heel as her two taller friends approached, Lance beaming proudly while Hunk eyed her suspiciously. “Hey Lance, you uh...look pretty happy today. Did you actually pass your midterms?”

“I wish! But no it’s something even better…” Lance hummed with a wistful sigh.

“Lance, had a date last night. Apparently, this new girl is too good to believe.” Hunk’s tone was chipper enough to any casual observer, namely Lance, but Pidge knew. She knew he knew that even with this brief happiness from both parties, she royally fucked up.

“That’s great. I’m happy for you two. Listen, I’m not feeling too hot today, must’ve eaten something weird, so I’m just gonna take off.”

Hunk didn’t listen as he began leading her down the hall and towards the common area building. “Ah c’mon, if a few hours in class didn’t kill ya you can at least hang out with us for a bit. We haven’t seen you in a few days.” the sinister glint in his eyes told Pidge everything. She wasn’t getting out of this.

There wasn’t a single thing strapping her to the seat but Hunk’s dirty glare was stronger than super glue at keeping her butt in the seat in the common area. “So Lance, tell us about your date.” Hunk’s eyes only briefly stayed on Lance, preferring to watch Pidge squirm instead.

“Oh it was wonderful. We went out for dinner, she has the coolest motorcycle by the way. She laughed at all my jokes with this cute little laugh, her voice is cute regardless though. Everything about her is cute. God, I just wanna see her again-!”

“Okay, we get it! She’s cute, did you just gush about her like a weirdo all night?” Pidge snapped, Hunk’s eyes on her making her more impatient and short-tempered.

“Pidge, calm down. Just because I have a cute girl and you don’t doesn’t mean you have to get mad. There’s someone for you too.” Lance cooed with a sympathetic pat to her head.

“So go on…” Hunk smirked, knowing Pidge was feeling guilty for, what was likely, the first time in her life.

“So we were walking around town for a while after dinner. I noticed her checking out this really cool knife in the window of that one goth store. I totally would’ve gotten it for her if I didn’t blow my spending money on dinner.” Lance started to blush as he remembered what happened afterward. “And...when we got back we kissed, on the first date!”

“Whoa! Loverboy over here, you’ve never gotten that far have you.” Lance glared slightly at Hunk’s remark but let it go after a moment. “Anything else juicy?”

Lance shook his head. “She left pretty quick after. She left skid marks in the parking lot when she pulled out.” he chuckled softly. “It’s almost like she...she wanted to get away from me…” his smile dropped. “Oh god, what if I came on too strong? She hasn’t texted me since the date. What if I’m a total creep to her??” his voice grew squeaky with panic as he abruptly stood up. “I...I-I gotta go!”

The other two watched as Lance speed walked down the hall, frantically tugging his phone out of his jacket pocket. “Really?” Hunk narrowed his eyes at Pidge.

“What?”

“You’re not going to tell him after that? You know how he gets, this is gonna freak him out for days!”

Pidge stood up with a glare. “You could’ve said something too y’know.” she sighed and grabbed her things when Hunk only responded to that with a disapproving look. “I’ll go talk to Keith. You keep Lance calm while I get this sorted out.”

“Fine, but you better fix this. It won’t be pretty if you don’t.”

Pidge nodded before leaving the common. 

\-----------------

**‘Hey, are you there?’**

**‘I don’t wanna pester but you’ve been really quiet lately’**

Lance bounced his leg on the tile bathroom floor nervously. He fiddled with his phone, opening, closing, and reopening apps as he waited for a response. He uncomfortably sat in the closed stall, shifting every muscle in his body in nervous twitches. Finally, his phone vibrated in his hands.

**‘hey. sorry i haven’t been kinda off the grid.’**

**‘So what are you up to?’**

**‘bored in class’**

**‘So, listen, I think we had something special the other night. I don’t want to come on too strong but maybe we could go for coffee after class sometime soon?’**

Kate took a long time to respond.

**‘I’m sorry i just...i need some time to process everything still. you’re a nice guy but...i don’t know’**

Lance bit his lip and put his phone away before he got too upset. That was it, his worst fear confirmed. Every nerve in his body told him to try and convince her that he wasn’t a creep, but he also knew that never worked. He had to throw the most perfect girl he knew into the pile of short relationships he utterly fucked up.

He ignored his scattered groups of friends for the remainder of the day and barely managed to slog through his evening class. He shuffled down the dark road towards his nearby apartment complex after class, the two mile walk seeming harder than usual. As his eyes wandered the ground a dim light caught his eye from across the street. The neon sign of a bar almost pulling him in, like it wanted to comfort him, and Lance couldn’t refuse it. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tbh I'm on the fence about how I wrote this chapter but everything shall be explained in the next one.  
> Happy new year everyone!


	7. Chapter 7

Keith groaned in response to his obnoxious alarm, briefly rolling over to yank his phone under the blankets and shut it off. He buried himself deeper into the warm bedding and squinted at the harsh brightness of his phone screen. As to be expected, he had a lot of accumulated messages. Essentially going dark for three days to sort his feelings out was going to do that.

**‘Pidge (3) new messages’**

**‘Regris (1) new message’**

**‘Lance (24) new messages’**

**‘Lance (5) missed calls’**

**‘Message not sent. Tap to try again’**

Keith gave the number of messages from Lance a concerned frown and opened their chat first. The first thing he saw almost made him want to crawl into a hole and die.

**‘i’m sorry i just...i need some time to process everything still. you’re a nice guy but...i don’t know’**

**‘i do really like you though. I had a lot of fun on that date and i want to go on another one but i just need a rest in between is all’**

The second message had an error next to it. It never sent through. Without that second message, it made it sound like Keith was trying to dump him! Keith’s stomach churned at the thought of what new messages were below his colossal fuck up. He almost tried to close his eyes as he scrolled down.

**‘It’s okay’**

**‘I’m okay’**

**‘Sooooooooopo okay’**

**‘it happens bby. I know you can do better than me’**

**‘ Yur so beatiful an cute!’**

**‘am the fuckin dukbass’**

**‘ily love you so much tho’**

**‘wish you wer here’**

**‘Hjuuhubjn mfuckin tears!’**

**‘how uuuyghj fucking stop trfffffff typin for me!’**

The messages became completely incomprehensible from there. He ignored Pidge’s messages that boiled down to ‘what the hell did you do to him’ and promptly called Lance back. His fingers gripped his bedding as the phone rang, his anxiety increasing twofold with every unanswered ring. After what felt like waiting for a solid hour, the other line picked up.

“The number you have dialed is not available. At the tone, please record your message. When you have finished recording you may hang up or press 1 for more options.”

Keith felt his heart sink into worry but he did his best to rationalize. It was still fairly early. He coughed into his hand before getting back into his voice for Kate as the voicemail tone sounded off. “Lance? It’s Kate… I saw what you said last night and...you have me kinda worried. Call me back soon okay..?” he sighed and hung up, the only motivator getting him out of bed is the thought of class of all things having a chance to distract himself from his worry.

\-----------------

Lance moaned weakly as he shifted to lay on his side. The cushion under him fell away and he hit the floor with a harsh thud. A breath hissed out through his clenched teeth and he reached to hold his elbow that had hit the side of a nearby coffee table. He sat up despite the dizzy feeling in his head and looked around. He wasn’t in his apartment and he definitely wasn’t at the last place he remembered being. He would’ve panicked then and there if not for a few familiar family photos catching his eye. Mom, dad, older brother, younger sister and- “Oof!” the dog.

He smiled up at Baebae as he knocked him over and licked his cheek in greeting. “Hey, buddy…”

“Baebae! Off!” Pidge called as she rubbed her eyes.

Lance nudged the dog off and pulled himself back onto the couch. “Hey…”

“Hey, how are you feeling?” Pidge asked as she slipped into the kitchen.

“Like the world fucking hates me,” Lance mumbled.

“Well as long as that doesn’t include nausea because I’m not cleaning anything up…” Pidge shrugged. “Coffee?”

“Yes please…” Lance slumped against the couch and held his head. “What happened last night..?”

Pidge sighed and leaned against the wall while the coffee brewed. “You were drinking like it was the end of the goddamn world and texting Kate. I guess your finger slipped and started texting me instead, sent me your location by accident, and Matt and I dragged you back here before you got yourself killed or in jail.”

Lance whined in response and curled up on the couch. “Nevermind the coffee...just let me die…”

Pidge sighed and sat beside him, resting her hand on his back. “Lance...I’m not the best at consoling people but...did Kate ever tell you she didn’t like you?”

“mmh...she will when she sees my dumbfuck drunk texts…”

“You’ll lose her no matter what if you try to curl up in a ball of your own shame. You need to buck up and apologize. Set everything straight and at least then you’ll have a chance.”

Lance sighed and sat up. “You’re right...give me a ride to class?”

“Sure thing, man.”

Two cups of coffee and a few aspirins later and Lance was on his way to school with Pidge and Matt. He managed to drag his feet to the lecture hall with Pidge pushing him along before she went to her own class, he’d talk to Kate about everything once he cleared his head. For now, he had to try and not focus on it, or the fact that he felt like absolute shit and looked how he felt. If he wasn’t an idiot already, getting plastered on a Monday night cemented his position.

He slumped over into his usual seat, painkillers barely nursing his headache. As to be expected, he couldn’t focus to save his life. He didn’t even manage to pull his notebook from his bag, much less take any notes on the lecture. Eventually, his head grew too heavy and he fell asleep in the middle of the lecture. Thankfully, the lecture hall was so large that one dumbass passed out on the table wasn’t going to be noticed tucked away in the corner.

He finally stirred and woke up near the end of the class, the professor making last-minute announcements as everyone shuffled to grab their stuff and leave. One of those announcements being an exam next week, which included all the covered material he just slept through.

A small worried whine slipped past Lance’s throat as he got up, the fact that he was utterly screwed sinking into him. None of his friends took this class and he’d taken a risk not buying the textbook for the class because reviews he saw for the professor said you didn’t need to so long as you took notes. So he’d have to pester a stranger while looking like a drowsy homeless man, great.

As he reached the door he noticed the guy in front of him, flipping through his notebook before shifting his bag to put it away.

“H-Hey…” Lance tried not to stumble as he called out to him. No response came from the man. “Hey, mullet.” Lance tapped his shoulder. It probably wasn’t the best move to insult this guy’s, admittedly terrible, hairstyle but he hadn’t exactly been thinking straight for the last few days.

He turned around with a slight glare, an annoyed “what?” dying in his throat. Jeez, did Lance really look bad enough to leave someone speechless? Lance tried to gather his thoughts before the man tried leaving again.

“Look, man, I...I had a rough night, couldn’t focus in class. Can you help me out and let me copy your notes or something? I’m screwed if I don’t pass this exam…” The fear of this guy saying no eventually leading him to failing the course, on top of everything else, was stressing him out to the point of tears. God keep it together Lance, you don’t need pity right now.

As he tried to hold back the waterworks, the man looked him over with a concerned look. “Are you...okay..?”

“Jus...Just here, I’ll give you my number and you can text me photos or somethin, please I just need the notes from today.” Lance sniffled, his voice carrying a whine with it as he reached for the man’s arm to write his number down on, forgetting the fact that he didn’t have a pen on him.

“W-Wait!” the man yanked his arm back and took a few steps away, holding the notebook out at arm’s length. “Just that it.” Lance blinked, needing a moment to process the gesture.

“You sure? The test is next week…” Lance hesitantly reached out for the notebook, wary of it possibly being a joke.

“Copy the notes you need tonight and leave the notebook behind one of the TVs in the commons tomorrow. Don’t worry about it.”

Lance took the book, tears blurring his vision as he leaned in and embraced the man. “Thank you!” he sobbed, overcome with emotion that something in his life had gone right.

“O-Okay, okay. Maybe let’s not make a scene..” the man awkwardly nudged him off and turned to leave before any more people could start staring at them. Lance sniffled and wiped his eyes as he left before looking down at the book, trying to find a name on it in case he needed to leave the book with someone later. Ah, on the inside cover in red sharpie, Keith K.

\-----------------

Lance bounced his foot on the floor while he sat at his desk, deciphering the chicken scratch from the notebook and using the internet to double check he wasn’t writing these notes inaccurately. Of course the universe would give him a catch, this handwriting was just awful.

A buzz at his apartment door interrupted his complaints about this Keith guy’s handwriting. He sighed and stretched as he got up, shaking the growing cramps from his fingers as he walked down to the front door to the complex to see who was ringing for him. “Oh, hey Matt.” Lance opened the door to let him inside but the older Holt sibling stayed just shy of the entrance.

“Hey, you’re looking better. I came to drop this off, you left it at our place this morning.” Matt held up his cellphone with a kind smile.

“Oh my god, that’s where it was! Shit, thanks so much, Matt. I owe you one.” Lance happily snatched the phone and sighed in relief that he wouldn’t have to shell out the money to get a new one, especially after all the money he spent on booze last night.

“Don’t worry about it. You were on the way to my girlfriend’s so I thought I’d drop it off.”

“So THAT’S where you’ve been hiding this whole time! I didn’t know you had a girl.”

Matt smiled innocently and shrugged. “We’re just not so eager to announce it to everybody. She’s pretty cool though.”

“Well, I won’t keep her waiting by holding you here then. G’night, Matt.”

“See ya, and good luck with Kate…” Matt waved and walked back to his car.

“Myeah…” Lance sighed and turned back into his apartment, plugging in his phone immediately when he turned it on and saw at 2% battery. Once he was sure his phone wouldn’t die, he reluctantly looked at his messages.

**‘Kate <3 (1) missed call’**

Fuck.

Lance’s throat ran dry as he called her back, his heart pounding in his chest at every passing dial tone. Finally, there was a click on the other end. “Lance??”

“Hey, Kate…” Lance wasn’t sure if he should be filled with relief or even more panic. This complex whirlwind of emotions rattled his chest as he thought of what to say. Before he could get another word out, he heard Kate sigh on the other end

“I’m glad you’re okay… I was concerned when I didn’t hear from you all day.”

“o-oh I...uh…about that…” Lance’s face went hot with embarrassment.

“Lance?”

Lance sighed in response. “Listen I...I’m so sorry about last night.” He curled his legs close to his chest as he was yet again overcome with shame.

“What happened?”

“I’m sorry…I was drunk but I know that isn’t an excuse for spamming you when you didn’t want to hear from me anymore. You made that clear and I just couldn’t handle it like an adult. God, ‘m so stupid…” Lance tried not to let his voice shake as tears formed in his eyes.

There was silence on Kate’s end for a moment as Lance continued to mumble and degrade himself. “Lance...I do want to talk to you. I really like you, I’m just not the best at handling...people for a long time. I’m sorry I made you think I wanted to break up…”

“W-wait break up? Does that mean we were a couple??” Lance squeaked with a twinge of hope in his voice, tears beginning to flow down his face.

Kate stifled a laugh. “If you want to be a couple…” The sound Lance made was small and somewhat inhuman, making Kate giggle again. “I’ll tell you what, let’s meet up again for coffee next week. Maybe at that small cafe near campus?”

“I...Y-Yeah! Yeah totally! I’ll let you know when I’m free.” Lance beamed and rubbed at his eyes.

“See you soon, Lance…”

Keith sighed as he hung up the phone, relief washed over his mind now that the misunderstanding was cleared up. Shiro peered into the room a few moments later. “Everything okay?”

Keith smiled and nodded “He’s fine…somehow he thought I was trying to break up with him but we’re okay now.”

Shiro smiled and set a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “I’m glad, it’s almost like just straightening things out with words makes things a lot easier.”

“Shiro…”

“I know, I know. It’s a lot more serious, but do you really think it’ll be easier for him to find all this out on his own?”

“I just…I still need more time…” Keith sighed as Shiro squeezed his shoulder to get his attention again.

“You don’t have to do it right now. But I’m trusting you to do the right thing before this gets too out of hand.” Another sighed from Keith and Shiro moved to pull him into a half hug. “You’re pretty fearless when you want to be. You just need to take the leap and get it over with.”

“…one more date?”

“Fine, one more date.” Shiro smiled and pat his back gently.

“Can you take a break off work to help me with my makeup then?”

Shiro chuckled and stood up. “’fraid not.”

“What?!”

“I told you before, I was only going to help you one time.”

“Shiro!”

“I’m standing by that. If you don’t want to stress about your makeup, then tell him the truth.”

“Can you stop acting like a dad for two minutes and help me!”

“You’re smart enough to figure it out. I can’t hold your hand all the time.” With a devious smirk, Shiro left the room.

Keith groaned in frustration and paced circles around his bedroom rug. What was he going to do? What was he going to do? What- He stopped and quickly plopped down by his laptop, fingers hitting his keyboard so fast that he needed to backspace a few typos.

**‘Viewtube makeup tutorials’**

Search.


	8. Chapter 8

“A good method to applying your eyeliner is to use your hand to stretch your face back slightly with your hand to make sure you get a straight line.”

“Ow! Mother fu-!”

“Perfect!”

Keith groaned and tapped his spacebar to pause the video, struggling not to cry from jamming the thin makeup brush right in his eye. How did girls do this without flinching? He huffed and wiped the black stain from his eyelid and hit the button again to play the video again.

“Don’t forget to go slow and just stay calm. It’s not a bit deal if you mess up.” The obnoxiously sugar sweet voice continued.

“Now you tell me…” Keith sighed and picked up the brush again. How could he keep himself calm when his entire feminine facade was dependent on this damn makeup kit?! His computer was ready to overheat and explode from the amount of tabs open in his browser. Tutorial, after tutorial with every video host being more annoying than the last. But he needed to get this right. If he was going to be able to show his face to Lance on their date Thursday, he had to look like an absolute bombshell and be able to do it himself.

He clicked to an early part of the video and tried again. “Okay…one stroke out and one stroke back in…” Keith sighed and turned back to the mirror, his hand moving slowly and as steady as possible as he copied the girl’s movements on screen.  Keith blinked a few times as he finished, his wings being wiggly and splotchy, but he at least he didn’t mess up that bad.

“Now, if you do mess up don’t forget you can always use your nail or the corner of a makeup wipe for touch-ups.”

Keith copied her again and looked over his eye in the mirror with a proud huff. A knock came to his bedroom door as he paused the video and slid his headphones off of his head. After a moment Shiro opened the door.

“Keith, do want me to pick up take out tonight after- whoa, what are you up to?” Keith looked up, slightly embarrassed that he got caught. Under any other circumstance, this would prompt a very serious discussion once time allowed.

“Just, thought I’d try to practice. But yeah, take out sounds good tonight.” Keith smiled softly, hoping this wouldn’t lead into another lecture. Shiro stepped further into the room and inspected his work so far.

“Mm...hey, don’t you have work soon?”

“What?!” Keith’s eyes snapped to his bedside clock with a strike of panic in his chest.

“Oh, and your wings are horribly uneven.” Keith groaned in frustration and started frantically wiping off the makeup with his hand as Shiro left the room. “Use a makeup wipe, man!”

“Shut up!” Keith whined as he got up to fix his hair and change. The black smears on his eyelids never entirely went away, as bluntly pointed out by his coworker.

“Dude, did you get into a fight or something on your way here?” Regris asked, leaning over the side of the store counter.

Keith huffed. “Please don’t ask…”

“That isn’t a no…” Thace, his manager, commented from the stock room.

“I didn’t get into a fight!”

“If the cops show up we aren’t covering for you, kid” Thace chuckled.

Keith let out a frustrated groan. “Can I just take a minute to wash this off before I start my shift?”

Thace nodded and gestured to the staff bathroom. “All yours.” After Keith was able to wash the makeup off more thoroughly, he joined Regris at the counter, ignoring his coworker’s comments.

Days flew past and soon enough the obvious problem of this date plan smacked Keith in the face, courtesy of Pidge. “How exactly are you going to go from a class you share with Lance directly to a date with him? You don’t exactly have the time or the privacy to change.” Keith’s anticipation for this date quickly soured to anxious worry. He stuttered to try and come up with a response but Pidge was way ahead of him. “You don’t have a plan, do you…”

Keith sunk in his chair and debated turning off his laptop camera to mask his shame. “Well, I can’t exactly ask Shiro for help on a weekday afternoon. I’ve been practicing putting on the makeup myself but…” he bit back a whine. “Yeah, I have no idea what I’m gonna do! Can you at least help me pick what to wear?”

Pidge sighed and leaned back in her chair. “Dude, I’ve lived on oversized hoodies and cargo shorts my whole life. I can’t exactly help you in the outfit department.” Keith let out a groan of frustration. “Tell you what, I’ll have some free time that day. Give me a plan and I can back you up.”

Keith sighed and spun around in his desk chair. “Alright, thanks Pidge.”

He heard the faint call of Pidge’s mother from the other room and smirked at her exasperated face. “I’ll talk to you later, Keith. Good luck with all that.” she sighed, deciding that fighting her mother on whatever she wanted wasn’t worth it.

She ended the call and Keith was left to think of what he could possibly do to get help. He sighed and leaned back, dead-eyed in his chair before something actually came to mind. “If you want to stay in touch he might still have my number…”

Keith lurched his body forward to sit back upright. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough force to right himself so he ended up falling back, the extra backwards force tilting the chair over and dropping him onto the floor with a loud thud.

“Keith?!” Shiro threw the door open almost instantaneously, a worried look on his face.

“Shiro!!” Keith sat up, a determined glint in his eyes. “I need to ask you about something!”

Shiro let out a sigh of relief under his breath and offered a hand to help him up. “Ask away…”

“Do you know a girl named...er…” shit.

“No, I don’t think I know a girl by that name.” Shiro chuckled as he hoisted Keith to his feet.

Keith groaned and lightly punched him in the chest. “No! God, that was lame…”

“I’m serious, Keith. You need to give me something to work with.”

“Uh okay...darker skin, white hair, not an old lady though. She was pretty young. Starts with...I wanna say a ‘K’?”

“Wait, are you talking about Allura?”

“Yeah! That’s it.”

Shiro rolled his eyes slightly and leaned against the doorframe. “What do you need with her? She was an SI I worked with for a while.”

“Do you still have her number? I need to talk to her.”

Shiro hummed in slight surprise. “Small world...let me check if I have it. I’ll send it to you.”

Keith nodded and pulled his chair back up while Shiro left to search the contact list on his phone. A few minutes later, Keith’s phone buzzed with the requested number. He yelled a thank you to Shiro and opened a chat with her. 

**‘hey, it’s kate. i was just wondering if I could get your advice?’**

A few anxious minutes passed before a reply came in.

‘What exactly do you need?’

**‘well...i’m not really like, a girly girl. so i need clothing advice. You’re really the only other girl i could ask.’**

Keith’s face was a bit hot with shame at typing that.

**‘A date?’**

**‘Yeah...coffee’**

**‘Mh...what are we working with, clothing wise? Send a photo of what you have.’**

Keith sighed and opened his closet, digging out all the dresses and skirts the Holt’s gave him as long as whatever other nice clothes he already owned. He splayed them out on his bed and sent Allura the photo

‘The black skirt you have there looks cute enough. See if you can pair it with a warmer colored shirt.’

Keith dug one of his red t-shirts out of his drawers. He assumed this is what she meant. He stripped his clothes and shimmied into the high waisted skirt, throwing the shirt on before taking a photo, angling it low so it didn’t show his face.

**‘i’m not sure about this…’**

**‘Tuck in the shirt, honey, and you may want to put your hair up if you can. A small ponytail would do.’**

Keith did as the messages said and tucked the shirt into the skirt. He looked over the outfit in the mirror with a curious hum. The slight puff of the shirt at the edge of the skirt left it loose and comfortable, as well as disguising his lack of a chest. The skirt flowed with every movement of his hips and was, thankfully, not on the short side. He sent another photo but he was fairly confident in this look already. He smiled slightly at the positive response that followed, thanked her and changed back to his other clothes, setting the outfit aside with one of his hoodies for Thursday.

Allura sighed as she stepped out of the steaming bathroom, dressed in a bathrobe with her damp hair up in a towel. She crossed the hallway into the living room, draping her arms over the figure sitting on the couch. The man turned and softly kissed her cheek, a happy hum in his chest. “Hello to you too, darling…” he chuckled lightly.

“Lotor, have you seen my phone?” Allura asked, looking around the room as she settled her head onto his shoulder.

Lotor hummed and tapped his cheek as he pondered the question. “Did you check the kitchen table?”

With a sigh, Allura pried herself off her boyfriend and turned the corner to check. Once she was out of sight Lotor pulled the phone out from behind his back and checked the recently sent photo.

**‘Oh, it’s adorable. Add a jacket and a little jewelry and it should be perfect.’**

He sent the message before quickly exiting the app and batting away the notification when Kate responded with his finger. “Allura, I found it.”

\-----------------

Keith shifted in his seat as the time crawled around the clock at the front of the classroom. He’d thought he was a genius for thinking to wear pants over the skirt to cut down his changing time but the uncomfortable lowness of the waistband was making him regret that to a degree. The skirt was bunched awkwardly in a few places around his thighs and forcing himself to keep his jacket zipped and hood up was just making him feel overheated. Luckily for Keith, he’d rather die of heat stroke than let Lance get suspicious that he and Kate were the same person. So he was more than willing to tough it out.

He distracted himself with class notes the best he could, each scroll of the powerpoint seeming to take longer and longer to get through. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked his messages under the desk.

**‘Plan is a go on my end. Meet me in the men’s bathroom on the east side of the building.**

**‘why the men’s room??’**

**‘It’s less creepy if a girl comes out of a men’s room than if a guy goes into the women’s room. People will just think you were giving someone a blowjob.’**

**‘pidge, gross!’**

**‘What? You’re gay! I thought you were into that.’**

**‘no dirty bathroom bjs thanks’**

**‘So...clean broom closet bjs?’**

**‘pidge’**

**‘Just come to the bathroom after class. I brought the makeup kit.’**

Keith huffed under his breath.

**‘thanks, i owe you one’**

**‘Damn right you owe me for making me camp out in this hellhole.’**

**‘you didn’t have to get there that early.’**

**‘I’m not you, Keith. I can’t wake up and be out the door in under 5 minutes. These things take preparation.’**

**‘yeah, whatever. class is starting to let out soon, see you in a few minutes.’**

Keith grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder as the teacher dismissed them. He was the first one out of the room and speed walked his entire way down the hall. He swung open the bathroom door and sighed as his shoulders dropped. He walked up to the mirror and dropped his book bag, giving himself a once-over in the mirror. He had maybe a solid 10 minutes to swap his identity and meet up with Lance. That wasn’t stressful or anything.

“Coast clear?” Pidge called from the handicap stall.

“Yeah, it’s just m-” Keith jumped slightly when he heard the door open again. Pidge stayed silent and Keith looked away from whoever walked in, pretending to wash his hands.

Lance let out a puff of air and looked himself over, fussing with his bangs to get them just right. He quirked an eyebrow when he noticed the figure next to him. “Hey, Keith right?” Keith’s body went cold in an instant. This wasn’t happening. “Thanks for giving me those notes the other week. Did you get them back? I set um down in the commons like you said.”

Keith reluctantly kept himself from looking at Lance’s stupid perfect face. “Y-yeah...no problem…” he stuttered out, trying to keep his voice as deep as possible.

Lance sighed and adjusted his shirt collar. “God, I’m so stressed. Is it normal to be stressed like this on a second date? Like, I already know her a little so it’s not like a wild card.” Keith started to blush. “But...fuck she’s so pretty! And sweet, and awesome, and just...way more out of my league than I realized at first…” Lance leaned against the sink and hung his head.

“I...I’m sure she likes you at least a little. You are going on a second date after all.” Keith muttered, keeping himself as turned away from Lance as possible.

Lance smiled at that and stood up straight, pulling up every shred of confidence he could muster. “You’re right. This is my chance to show her what I’m made of! Thanks, man, wish me luck!” Lance beamed as he exited the bathroom, his strides wide and energetic as he weaved past people towards the cafe.

Pidge peeked out of the stall before going to Keith’s side. “You okay buddy.”

Keith’s knees buckled, arms just barely holding him up by the sink. “He’s so cute…”

“Alright get up, disaster. We don’t have time to roll around on the floor all smitten.”

Keith sighed and stood upright, shedding his pants and hoodie as he reached for a hair tie. “Just hold onto this stuff for now. I can grab it from you later.”

“Right, I’ll go guard the door.” Pidge left the makeup kit on the counter and planted herself near the door just in case someone else decided to give them a heart attack in the middle of their plan.

Keith’s movements were quick and delicate. Lipstick, eyeliner, concealer, blush, he worked through them all at record speed, at least for him. He tied his hair back in a high messy ponytail before grabbing his back and handing the kit back to Pidge. “Wish me luck…”

“Just don’t do anything stupid.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and yes, Lotor was the one on Allura's phone the entire time.
> 
> Just felt like adding a few more characters before we get some juicy stuff. The next two chapters might be on the short end but I want to make sure the really dirty stuff is all in one chapter with little to no actual plot so people can skip it if they prefer not to read super nsfw content.


	9. Chapter 9

Keith nervously gripped at the front of his shirt as he approached the small cafe. He looked himself over one more time the faint reflection from the store window as he headed for the door. His fingers fussed with the ponytail, hoping it didn’t look too bad before a tap on the window drew his attention. Lance was sitting at one of the high seat tables, rhythmically tapping the window with his nail and only stopping to wave once Kate actually noticed he was right there. Keith jumped, his face burning up as he rushed over to the front door of the cafe and stepped inside.

“Hey, there you are.” Lance smiled sweetly, despite the nervous twisting feeling in his chest.

“Heh, sorry. Class took forever to let out.” Keith smiled shyly and sat down at the tiny table.

“No kidding! It’s always the last class for the week that takes the longest.” Lance sighed. “Oh, since you weren’t here yet I already ordered for us. You just take it straight up black right?”

Keith smiled softly and nodded. “Yeah, thanks…”

Lance sighed and squeezed his own hand. “Look, I still feel really bad for what happened last week. I know we already brushed it off but...I don’t know. It just didn’t feel sincere if I didn’t apologize in person.” Lance looked up pitifully at the beautiful girl sitting with him only for her to take his tense hands in her own.

“It’s really not a big deal. It’s my fault for going so quiet…Let’s just say we were both idiots and call it even.” Kate giggled softly. Lance smiled at the warm comfort of her soft hands and shifted his own around so he could hold them.

“Lance. Lance. Hey Lance!” the couple jumped as Hunk called them from the register. “Your drinks are ready, dude.”Lance blushed and let go to get the drinks.

“Thanks, Hunk…” Lance grabbed the two drinks and a small bag of pastries from his friend, both of them eying Kate as she shifted in her seat.

“That her?”

Lance nodded. “Yeah...she’s really something, huh?” Hunk hummed but didn’t necessarily agree. “Come say hi when you get a break, yeah? She’s really cool, I swear.”

Hunk couldn’t help the smile on his face at Lance’s adoration for her. “Sure, Griffin will be in to take my shift soon anyway.” Lance grinned and went back to the table, setting the drink in front of Kate. Keith hummed in thanks and took the hot drink in his hand, playing with the tab of the plastic lid before taking a sip.

Lance tensed when Kate let out a rough cough when she took a sip of her drink. “Too hot?”

Kate wiped the dribble from her chin. “Too sweet. I think you got the wrong drink.”

“What?!” Lance bit back a whimper, it was two minutes into this date and he already fucked up! Again!

“Is yours right?” Keith asked as he tried to will away the overly sugary taste in his mouth.

Lance cautiously brought the drink to his lips, pulling back with a gag almost immediately. “Okay. No. Way too bitter to be my latte.”

Keith’s eyes lit up at that. “Lance...you switched the drinks on accident.” he took the cup from Lance’s hand and switched them around.

Lance took a sip of the other drink and gave a sheepish smile. “Heh, oops…” Kate gave a soft laugh in return, the late day sun catching her beautiful pale skin through the window. “Sorry about that…” Lance muttered, legs shifting nervously under the table.

“Hey, it’s no big deal. You didn’t actually mess up the order.” Keith quirked an eyebrow as Lance popped the lid off his drink and began rooting around in the nearby tray of sugar packets. “You have a bit of sweet tooth, don’t you,” he smirked.

Lance blushed slightly and laughed. “Yeah, kinda...trying to cut back though,” he said as he shamelessly dumped the sugar in his drink. Keith rolled his eyes and investigated the pastry bag, picking a small croissant from the bag and trying to enjoy the moment without worrying about his sloppy, amateurish makeup and messy hair. None of his worries mattered at the moment. He had this time to enjoy Lance’s company and he was absolutely going to savor it.

“Oh, that’s right. I brought this back for you.” Lance bent down to grab his bag and hauled it into his lap. Keith cocked his head with a hum as he chewed the croissant. Lance unzipped the bag and unfurled a familiar black leather jacket from inside.

“Is that-? Oh my god, that’s right. I left without it.” Keith slapped his forehead, he’d practically torn his room apart looking for it a few days ago.

Lance beamed and got up from his seat, crossing over to drape the jacket over Kate’s shoulders. “Well, no worries! I kept it safe for you.”

“Thank you, Lance.”

Lance felt his heart jam itself into his windpipe as Kate smiled at him. The fondness in her violet eyes was breathtaking as she slipped her arms through the sleeves of the jacket. He managed to choke a nervous excuse to go to the bathroom. He’d internally combust in shame if he did something stupid again. He needed a minute to gather himself and keep the stupid levels down.

Keith sighed as he watched Lance slip into the back of the cafe, continuing to nibble at the pastry in his hand. Oh, gross there’s lipstick on it! Seriously why do girls put up with this? He tried to see his reflection in the mirror to check if the smudged makeup was noticeable. He should’ve taken the lipstick with him for touch-ups. Stupid.

“Hey.”

Keith jumped at the unfamiliar voice and turned around. It was the barista Lance had gotten the drinks from.

“How’s the coffee?”

“Oh, it’s good…” Keith kept his voice timid to try and hide its masculinity.

“Sorry, I’m Hunk. Lance and I have been friends since grade school so I thought I’d say hi.”

“O-oh, I’m Kate.” Keith gave Hunk a tense handshake before the man leaned over the table, clearly having no intention of this being just a quick hello.

“So how long have you two been a thing?”

“Well...we started talking a little before midterms so...about a month?”

“Lance has talked a lot about you, Kate. You’re all he thinks about now.” Hunk chuckled lightly.

“I’m...sorry then?” Keith smiled back, a soft blush forming on his cheeks.

“Yeah, Pidge has talked a lot about you too.” Hunk’s tone kept its happy, relaxed tone but there was a very sinister glint in his eyes.

“I...I don’t really know what you mean by that…”

“Keith.”

That one word made Keith’s blood run cold.

“Yeah, she's been telling me everything. Or, she was when she thought I'd get a laugh out of it.”

Keith felt his mouth run dry as he thought of how to respond. “I...I'm not-!”

“Not trying to deceive him? Yes, you are. I've seen you around campus, Keith. You are the last person that would wear a skirt in public.” Hunk sighed as Keith began to squirm in shame. “Look, just tell me something. Why are you doing all this?” his expression softened a bit to help Keith calm down.

Keith sighed and slumped over the back of the chair, his face burning as bright red as the low hanging sun. “I just...I don't want to hurt him. I know lying to him doesn't help but what else can I do? Everyone keeps telling me to be honest but no one can fucking tell me how to do that! I want to stay with him...if it means I stay a girl for a little longer then fine. I don't care when he finds out. I just don't want it to be now…” Keith hung his head as his chest tightened up.

As he silently counted the scraps of dirt on the floor a large hand gripped his shoulder. “You really like him, don't you…”

Keith blushed and looked back up at Hunk. “Yeah, I really do…”

Hunk smiled wide. “I'm glad, you really mean a lot to him. Sorry about that, just trying to look after him, you know?”

Keith smiled softly and nodded. “It's no big deal. I get it…”

Hunk pushed away from the table. “Tell Lance I'm sorry for taking off before we could hang out. I didn't really wanna impose on you two anyway.”

“Sure thing, and Hunk..?”

“Yeah?”

“If I end up hurting Lance...please just punch me.”

Hunk chuckled lightly. “Ah, I couldn’t do that. The tough guy thing is more of an act really. But I can get someone else to punch you if that helps.”

Keith couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s a deal.” Hunk waved as he left the cafe, Lance coming back a minute later.

“Aw man, did Hunk leave already?” he whined.

Keith smiled softly. “Yeah, you just missed him.”

“Damn, I wanted him to meet you…” Lance sighed, digging into the paper bag beside him for another pastry. 

\-----------------

“And then he called me a furry and stormed out.”

Keith laughed as he finished his drink. “Seriously? All because you beat this guy in one game?”

Lance shrugged “Kids are crazy…”

“No kidding…” Keith giggled before hearing his phone vibrate from his bag. He bent down to grab it from his open backpack and checked the caller ID. “Sorry, I just need to take this real quick. It’s Shiro.” Lance nodded in understanding and took the moment to check his own messages.

“Hey, Shiro…” Keith, blushed slightly, embarrassed that he had to address his roommate with this voice.

“Hey, are you still out with Lance?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Just curious since you’re not back yet. I was just calling to let you know Adam’s coming over tonight.”

Keith whined. “Seriously? Why don’t you ever go to his place?”

“Hey, I let you bring boyfriends over too.”

“I've never had boyfriends before, Shiro!”

“I still let you. But yeah, just a heads up about that. Call if you need anything. Okay?”

Keith huffed and deflated a little. “Fine...see you later Shiro…” he put his phone away with a huff.

“What was that all about?” Lance asked, trying not to let his brain short circuit overthinking the ‘never had a boyfriend’ part.

Keith groaned and traced the rim of his cup with his finger. “Shiro's having his boyfriend over again tonight.”

“Oof, bad blood between you two?”

“No, it's not that. Adam and I get along fine it's just… the two of them are a bit...loud.”

Lance cocked an eyebrow. “Like they jack up the volume on movie night or- ohhhhh…”

Keith's face burned at the unspoken scenario. “Yeah, I don't exactly need that reminder of how thin the walls are…”

“Man, that must be so awkward…”

Keith nodded. “He doesn't do it often but god I'm not getting sleep tonight, that's for sure…”

Lance blushed slightly as he debated speaking up. “I mean...you could always crash at my place tonight. I-If you just wanna get away from the noise, y'know!”

Keith looked up at the proposition, face also dusting with pink. “Maybe… At least then I could sleep.”

“Really? You want to??” Lance sat up in attention, his face starting to burn again.

Kate smiled and nodded. “I’d love to come over.”

Lance heart might have stopped for a solid 5 seconds. “G-Great! Awesome! Just, uh… maybe give me a little time to clean up first?” he fiddled with his fingers and smiled shyly at Kate, who smiled again in return.

“Sure, I should grab some stuff from home anyway. Can I come by around seven?”

“Sure! seven it is!” Lance beamed, nearly pushing himself up above his seat with giddiness.

Kate smiled and hopped down from the chair, slinging her bag over her shoulder. Lance followed her to the front of the cafe, walking out by her side before they turned to split ways. Lance took one of her hands before she could walk too far away and smiled before leaning in, pressing a chaste kiss to Kate’s warm cheek. “I’ll see you soon...”

Keith practically had a fever, his face was so hot. The kissed skin seemed to radiate heat even long after Lance left, making it harder to let the moment sink into Keith’s subconscious. He had to stand there for a moment until he felt emotionally stable enough to ride home. Fuck, since when was Lance that smooth?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kingdom Hearts overtook my life again so I apologize if the dialogue is a bit lacking this time around. ^^'
> 
> Also, you may have noticed that I'm updating more frequently now. The last few chapters got a lot of comments and I'm really excited to finish this story so I can move on to other projects. I haven't actually completed a fic in 5 years! I can't guarantee another speedy update but I do have more motivation thanks to all the support lately. So thank you! :)
> 
> And Happy Valentine's Day!


	10. Chapter 10

Keith kicked open the apartment door with little regard for the noise as he stormed inside. He heard a hiss of pain accompany the loud bang only to glance over and see that Shiro had just gotten a face full of front door. “The door call you a slur or something? Jeez, Keith…” Shiro rubbed his head as Kosmo bounded over to his master.

Keith stopped in his tracks and gave Shiro a sheepish smile while Kosmo enthusiastically licked his hand. “Sorry, just stressed…”

“Lance?”

“Lance…” Keith huffed out before taking wide strides towards his room.

“Do I dare ask what happened this time?” Shiro lazily trailed behind him with a smug grin.

Keith shot a glare back before grabbing hold of Shiro’s tight shirt and dragging him into the room. “Makeup. Fix it. Now.”

Shiro smirked and nudged Keith’s hand off of him. “Keith, I know being in love doesn’t make you forget what the word ‘please’ is and you remember what I said about helping you.”

“Shiro!” Keith whined.

“I’m not budging, Keith. You can’t jus-” Shiro stopped and quirked an eyebrow. Keith had dropped his head and gone silent, a heavy air starting to weigh down the room.

“Shiro...please…” Keith looked back up, puppy eyes showing through his dark bangs. Despite being in his twenties, the sad orphan look hadn’t lost any of its strength since he was little, especially when directed at Shiro. Keith’s unwavering stare crushed Shiro’s chest in a vice. This man was an adult, Shiro knew that, but he was also small and sensitive. He was like a little boy just looking for guidance and help.

Shiro let out a heavy breath and set his hand on Keith’s shoulder, hanging his head in defeat. “Fine, fine...sit down and I can fix you up before Adam gets here.”

Keith gave a grateful smile and plopped down on his bed. Shiro joined him after grabbing the makeup bag Keith had recently purchased, the materials inside already dirty from him practicing over the past week. Keith stayed still, letting Shiro manhandle his face to the desired angle to touch up his makeup.

“Mh...not bad. You’ve been practicing a lot, haven’t you?”

“Yeah...I still can’t get the wings even though…”

Shiro shrugged. “Trust me, anyone who can is using dark magic. Personally, I sold my soul to a witch to get this good.” Keith tried not to laugh so Shiro wouldn’t mess up.

“Here, let me fix this too. Turn around.” Shiro unfurled Keith’s messy ponytail and grabbed his nearby hairbrush. “It’s gotten so long. You really like it this way?”

“Not everyone can pull off a buzz cut, Shiro. I like it long…”

Shiro’s large fingers skillfully tied Keith’s hair back up and gave a swift pat to his head. “That should do it. So, can I expect you won’t be back until morning then?” Shiro smirked.

Keith’s face burned as he stood up. “It’s not what you think! I probably would’ve crashed with Pidge or Regris if he didn’t offer. I value my sleep, you know…”

Shiro stood up and sauntered towards the hallway. “Alright, just remember to use protection.”

“Shiro!”

“Oh, and lube. That’s important.”

“Oh my god, stop!!”

Shiro bit back a laugh as Keith shuffled around to grab his things. “Sorry Keith, it’s just cute how innocent you are.” he earned a frustrated growl back as Shiro left to finish cleaning up the apartment.

Keith checked his phone as he hastily shoved his toiletries and his laptop in his backpack and slung it over his shoulder.

**‘Lemme know if you need the address again.’**

**‘Also bring snacks and movies if you want to. Let’s make this a night babe!’**

Keith smiled fondly as he approached the living room.

**‘Alright, on my way’**

“Hey Shiro, I’m stealing some of the DVDs!”

“Just don’t take my favorites. You’re not the only one with a movie night tonight.”

Keith grabbed an almost random stack of DVDs from their shelf and turned around to look him in the eye. “Shiro, we both know the last thing you and Adam do on movie night is watch the goddamn movie.”

Shiro shrugged with a ‘ya got me there’ look and let Keith leave without protest.

\-----------------

After a brief stop at a gas station for fuel and snacks, Keith had arrived at Lance’s apartment, bag stuffed with what he needed for the night and a whole host of worries he was trying to suppress. He just had to keep in mind that anything was better than hearing Shiro moaning so loud that he was utterly shocked they had never gotten a noise complaint. He parked his bike and walked up to the main doors, finger hovering over the worn down call buttons to find Lance’s flat number.

He pressed the button and waited, Lance’s voice coming through the nearly broken speaker on the wall. “It’s unlocked! First door up the stairs on the right.”

Keith tugged open the now unlocked main doors and followed Lance’s oddly rushed directions up to the door. He gently turned the doorknob and peered inside, his eyes first catching an old futon, with a mountain of blankets and pillows piled on top. Nearby shelves were aligned with family photos, and small knick-knacks, and a spicy but delicious smell was filling the apartment. Once Lance passed by Keith’s field of view he stepped inside with a bit more confidence and shut the door.

The click of the door caught Lance’s attention as he turned around. “Kate, hey! Long time no see.” he chuckled.

Kate cocked her head. “I just saw you like, two hours ago.”

Lance felt his heart melt, he hoped her lack of awareness when it came to jokes never changed. It was too cute. He embraced her quickly after Kate kicked her boots off and lead her further inside. “What smells so good?”

“Oh, I thought I’d make us something in case you were hungry. Chicken okay with you?” Lance rushed back to meat currently cooking on the stove, making sure his brief time away from the counter didn’t leave anything burnt.

Keith was nearly at a loss for words. “I...Lance you didn’t have to do all this…”

“Well I still haven’t eaten but I figured I couldn’t just leave you out of it. So I made some extra just in case.”

Keith let a warm smile rest on his face and joined him in the kitchen. “Need any help?”

“Actually, yeah. I was gonna make a salad too. Everything’s already out if you want to do some cutting.”

Keith nodded and slipped off his gloves before washing his hands and approaching the cutting board. Keith let himself sink into the moment, his cuts falling into a relaxed pattern while Lance finished preparing the meat. It was different than the other times they shared a moment. His heart didn’t race and rattle around in his chest, he wasn’t worried about being caught or rejected. It was just a moment in his presence, same as any other moment in his day. It put his mind at ease and finally let his tense shoulders slump.

“Hey, I didn’t know you had tattoos.” Lance broke the tranquil silence, his eyes drifting to the ink on Kate’s hand.

Keith looked back at Lance with a hum as he brought himself back to reality. “Oh, yeah, it’s just this one…” he let go of lettuce head and held out his wrist for Lance to inspect it.

“You always wear those biker gloves so I never noticed.” Lance smiled warmly and took her hand to look at the tattoo, a basic outline of an ornate knife, the only color being a small violet symbol on the hilt. “You have a thing for knives don’t you.”

“It’s actually a bit more than that…” Keith drew his eyes away from Lance. “This knife, er the real one, it’s the only thing I have left of my mother…” Lance’s face dropped a little, as her hand slipped from his. “Just...I don’t know. I guess when I was younger I held out hope that I’d find her and got this as a reminder…”

Lance found himself at a loss for words, unsure how to approach the situation as Kate’s eyes fell to the floor. He knew anything he said wouldn’t come out right so he settled for pulling Kate into a loose hug. She tensed at the contact but didn’t pull away as Lance silently comforted her.

Keith sighed softly and returned the embrace for a moment before slipping free of Lance’s arms. “How about we eat?” Lance nodded and stepped back to prepare their plates while Keith settled at the table.

It didn’t take long for the feeling of dread to disperse as they enjoyed their meal. Keith hummed as he put a small trial bite of chicken in his mouth. “Hm, what did you spice this with?”

“Oh, it’s my mom’s recipe. I doubt I got it down though.” Lance smiled as he took a bite of his own and quickly recoiled. “Ooh! Okay, that’s really strong…” Lance panted a little and took a gulp of his drink to try and dilute the burn of the spices.

“Really? I like it.”

“What?? Hah.. You can eat that? Are you like a robot?”

Keith shrugged innocently and took another bite. Lance smirked and took another bite in turn. “Alright, a challenge. Let's see who can survive eating the super spicy chicken and who can do it faster!”

Keith cocked an eyebrow and snickered. “Seriously? Sure, I'll take that challenge.”

Lance flashed a grin of determination and raised his fork. “Ready? Go!”

The sound of scraping plates increased twofold as both raced to clear them. Lance kept a steady pace as he ignored the burn in his throat, his eyes starting to water. Keith seemed mostly unaffected, victory in his grasp until a sharp sting hit his throat. He coughed harshly and nearly spat out the piece. The spice mixture had all pooled at one end of the chicken. That sly bastard knew that!

Keith desperately tried to keep up but Lance closed the gap fast. In the end, Keith still had one more bite left on his plate and Lance slammed his fork down on his completely empty plate. “H-holy shit! Woo…” Keith choked out between coughs while Lance revelled in his painful but satisfying victory.

“Ugh sorry about that. I’ll get some milk.” Lance stood up and grabbed the half gallon from the fridge, pouring them each a glass to try and chase away the strong spice.

Keith smiled as he finally felt the pain go down. “Well played…”

\-----------------

Keith tugged the blanket closer to his neck, relaxing in the thick, nest-like pile of blankets Lance had fashioned on the couch. He wasn't entirely focusing on the movie playing on his tv. He'd seen it enough times already. Lance's body heat seeped through the blankets and mingled with his own, the warmth keeping him at ease as the movie played on. Their bags of snacks were wide open and strewn across the coffee table but neither had made a move to pick from them in some time.

Keith felt a tired haze in his head as he gradually slumped against Lance’s body, who had kept a few inches between them before for the sake of Kate’s comfort. Lance tensed slightly when Kate’s fluffy head fell onto his arm. She didn’t fall asleep but she felt the need to use Lance as a pillow. He blushed, this was as close to a cheesy romance scenario he’d ever gotten. Might as well make it complete.

Kate grunted as Lance slipped his arm out from under her head but continued to lay against him like a lizard on a big warm rock. Lance hesitated before slowly sliding his arm around her shoulders, finally finding purchase on the higher end of her waist. Keith blushed slightly but stayed where he was, not making a single move to shake Lance away.

“Heh, tired..?” Lance mused, receiving a small hum in reply. “Yeah, movies aren’t all that exciting when you’ve seen already. I mean, you already know they’re gonna work things out in the end, haha!” Why did he laugh? That wasn’t funny. Can he go five minutes without making an ass out of himse-?

“Lance, are you...nervous?” Kate asked, looking up at him while still being nestled against his side.

“Wh-what? No, no I’m fine. It’s just…”

“Just..?”

Lance sighed and turned to face her completely. “I can’t really believe this is real, that you would want to come hang out with...someone like me. I’m not exactly any girl’s top pick, you know? I'm usually just an idiot who’s easy to please. They get a few favors or meals out of me then just leave when they get sick of me…”

Keith frowned softly and sat up, bringing his hand up to cup Lance’s cheek. “Lance, I don’t want that… It honestly doesn’t matter how many favors you think you owe me. I stick around because of you. Being vulnerable isn’t a luxury I’ve ever been able to have, except with you. I haven’t enjoyed someone’s company this much in a long time. I...I want to stay.”

Lance smiled and placed his hand over Kate’s, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles. “You’re an amazing girl, Kate. I always worry sometimes you’re not even real. I don’t deserve someone like y-” Lance’s eyes grew wide as Kate’s soft lips captured his own in a brief kiss.

“Don’t talk like that…” she breathed out as she pulled back. “...you deserve so much better.”

Lance nearly felt his eyes water as he dipped down to return the kiss. His chest swelled as he coiled his hands around Kate’s slim waist and took in the soft texture of her lips. Keith was quick to drown himself in the kiss, wrapping his arms around Lance’s neck, trying anything to pull him closer. Oxygen was overrated compared to Lance.

The two ended up falling to the couch, Keith supported by their nest of blankets, Lance moving to straddle him, not letting his lips go for a moment. Keith gave a tight squeeze to Lance’s hair, his chest heaving as Lance brushed his tongue against his lips. He was cautious in his approach, clearly taking a more drawn out strategy. His tongue took shallow dips into Kate’s mouth, only growing bolder once she didn’t object.

Keith moaned softly as Lance’s tongue licked his own, lifting his head up almost to challenge him, shoving his tongue out and copying his movement. Lance hummed blissfully, only pulling back enough to suck in a breath before going right back to locking their lips. Kate yanked him closer, causing Lance to lose his balance a bit. He threw his hand out to steady himself and felt Kate’s breath hitch. Lance immediately stopped and pulled back a bit to make sure he didn’t just hurt her. He managed to tear his eyes away from her gorgeous flushed face and glanced down. His hand had landed high between her legs.

Wait, what was he touching?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOO! On a role here and it's all thanks to your comments! I just might take my time on the next one just to make you suffer. jk jk it'll be because of school. It all depends if I get anything done over break.  
> Also, yes, the end of this chapter is exactly what you think it is.
> 
> Side note: the idea of Keith having a tattoo was a last minute addition but it got me thinking. I MIGHT do a spin-off/sequel story involving Keith looking for Krolia. I'm on the fence with it now (mostly because incorporating something like Marmora in a modern setting is tricky but I'd love to hear your feedback. All I know now is it would be short, sweet, and SAD.


	11. Chapter 11

The shot of pleasure between Keith’s legs was short lived as his mind filled with fight or flight panic. He let go of Lance and shoved him off, using his other hand to pull himself away and get Lance’s hand off his crotch.

“Kate? What’s wrong?” Lance asked between soft pants.

“I-I...Lance, I'm sorry. I need to go.” Keith squirmed his way out from under Lance and took wide strides to the door to grab his shoes. He'd actually put them on later, right now, he needed to get out. He couldn't face this, not right now, not like this! As his hand grasped the doorknob Lance grabbed his other hand.

“Hang on, what is it? If I went too far I'm sorry but please don't leave yet.” Lance pleaded his grip on Kate's wrist firm but loose enough that she could slip out if she really wanted to get away from him.

Keith let out a shaking breath and turned around. He immediately regretted it. Lance's stained lip was starting to tremble, he looked like a puppy that didn't know why it was just kicked. Keith's heart was punching itself for even insinuating to Lance that he didn't want to stay with him. He wanted to, so badly, but they were reaching the part that Shiro warned him about. No amount of girly bows and makeup can hide a part of his body.

“It's...it's not that. I want to I just…” Keith’s deep inhale felt like holding up a lead brick. He had this coming for so long, even now he wasn't prepared to say it. But he didn't have a choice. Anything was better than letting Lance think it was his fault. “Lance, I have to come clean…” Keith dropped the voice and let go of the door to fully face him.

“I'm...I'm not actually a girl…” His face burned in shame as he uncomfortably shifted around waiting for Lance to respond.

“W-wait, you're a guy? Like  _ actually _ a guy? What?!” Keith winced at Lance's volume and utter shock in his voice. “I...oh my god I'm so stupid. I never even realized.” Lance stepped back to look Kate back over again, the pieces finally falling into place.

“I'm sorry...I just- it's a long story, okay?”

“No, baby, I totally get it. You don't have to explain…” Lance smiled and took both of Keith's hands in his own.

“Y-you do??”

“Of course, what you've got down there doesn't matter to me. You're a beautiful girl no matter what.”

Keith froze as Lance tucked a strand of hair behind his ear. “Wait, Lance-”

“Being trans isn't something you should be ashamed of Kate.”

“Lance-”

“If someone gives you shit, fuck them. I still love y-”

“Lance!” Keith growled, frustrated that it was so hard to just confess his sins. “I'm not trans, you idiot! I was lying to you!!”

That was it. That was his out. He could have continued living a lie with Lance loving him all the same. But not only did he dismiss that out, he also kicked it in the shins and spat in its face. His frustration ripped him at the seams, letting his anger seep out and target Lance head on.

His outburst rang through the apartment, leaving Lance completely silent. “I'm not a girl. I don't even  _ feel _ like a girl. All of it was a lie…”

“What..? Seriously?” Lance's voice began to tremble. “You CATFISHED ME?!”

Keith winced at the pain in his voice. “Lance, I can expla-”

“No! I don’t wanna hear what kind of bullshit reason you have for this sick joke!” Even with how angry Lance looked, there was a bottomless well of pain in his eyes. “You’re no different, are you? You just sweeten guys up to pay for your shit then ditch once they aren’t useful anymore. Is that fun for you?! You just show them your dick and laugh because you’re that fucking heartless?!”

Every word stabbed into Keith’s heart like a rusty nail. He was shuffling back towards the door as Lance screamed at him, tears falling down Lance’s face as he continued to accuse him. “Is it so fucking hard to want to be with someone? I mean...fuck, I loved you!! I thought I finally got this shit right and now I don’t even know who you are!”

“That’s not true!” Keith finally snapped back. With all the emotions swirling and building up in Keith’s tighten throat, his anger was the first one to fully surface. “How much of an asshole do you take me for?! You think I lied about everything?! About how I’ve never had more than one person in my life give a single shit about me?! You think my two decades of suffering was made up for sympathy?!” Keith snarled but barely held himself back enough to not throw any punches. He grabbed the doorknob behind him and flung the door open, storming down the steps and only making sure he had the keys to his bike so he could get the hell out of here.

Lance couldn’t follow her- him, he just couldn’t. His burning anger quickly began to dwindle once the door slammed shut, leaving a charred hollowness in his chest. His tears flowed freely as he tried to take in everything. Kate was a male and he just shrieked at the top of his lungs to get him to leave. But he got it wrong. There’s no way Kate did this to hurt him with a reaction like that. His regret hit him at full force not a few seconds later.

Lance barely managed to catch his breath from screaming when he heard a sharp tire squeal and a crash outside. A sense of dread dropped into his gut as he finally peeled his feet from their spot on the carpet and rushed downstairs. In the haze of heavy rainfall outside, he could see a large white truck stopped on the road just past the apartment parking lot. Kate's bike was toppled near the entrance, he couldn't see where he was in the darkness.

Lance threw the main door open and scrambled across the soaked asphalt. His socks grew heavy with water as he spotted Kate laying in the grass just past the curb. “Oh no, no no no fuck!” He sprinted to him as the truck bailed from the scene. Keith let out a puff of air and opened his eyes, pulling his arm up to shield his face from the pelting rain.

“Holy shit are you okay?! Are you hurt?!” Lance dropped to the grass and cupped Kate's face, desperate tears dripping off his nose.

“Lance..? Y-Yeah...yeah I'm okay.” He sat up slowly, testing to make sure nothing was bruised or broken. He and his bike were fortunately unharmed.

“What happened??” Lance breathed out, his heart hammering in his chest.

“I...I just wanted to get out so fast I didn't see the truck. Swerved so hard to avoid it I got thrown off…” Keith sighed, a whimper still prominent in his voice.

Lance felt his heart snap, this was all his fault. If he didn't blow up he wouldn't have stormed out! Kate hurt him but he didn’t want him to die! At that moment any anger he still clung to washed away with the water pouring into the nearby storm drain. He threw himself against Keith and held him tight, choking out sobs. “I'm sorry! F-fuck I'm so so sorry…”

Keith sunk into his arms and hugged back. “It’s not your fault...I never should have lied to you…” he sniffled, the heavy rain soaking them both to the bone at this point.

Lance continued to cry into Keith’s already soaked shoulder, babbling into the fabric of his shirt. “I just can’t stop fucking up! I can’t even hear you were lying to me without hurting you!” Keith stayed quiet, rubbing Lance’s shaking back and trying to quiet his cries.

Eventually, Lance’s breathing evened out and he pulled away. Kate was a mess, hair full of dirt and makeup creating long black streaks down his face. But in that moment his love was just as deep for her as the night of their first kiss.

Lance sighed as he calmed down and stepped back. “C’mon, let’s go back inside…” he offered a hand to Keith who took it without a word. They pulled Keith’s bike back up to the parking lot before going back inside, Lance starting to shiver from being drenched in cold rain.

As Keith tried to process the last few minutes Lance grabbed his wrist and tugged him towards the bathroom. “What are you doing?”

Lance responded by grabbing a makeup wipe and swiping it across Keith’s face. “You’re a mess… Plus I want to know what you’re really like.”

Keith smiled softly and let Lance continue to clean off his running makeup. “I told you, I didn’t lie about who I am, I mean, besides my name. I always felt bad for not saying I was a guy but...I figured you wouldn’t like me if I just told you early on.”

“Why do you say that?”

“You’re straight, aren’t you?”

Lance scoffed slightly and laughed. “What? Dude, I’m bi.”

Keith’s eyes widened before he groaned in annoyance. “Seriously? I was freaking out for nothing? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Well...people tend to give that look like ‘oh, so you’re not one of us?’, even the guys get a little suspicious. So, yeah I try not to bring it up…” Lance gave a sheepish smile as he tossed the makeup wipe in the trash. “I just realized, I don’t actually know your name, do I?”

“Oh, right, it’s Keith.”

“Wait, what?! Keith?! Like, the guy I got notes from Keith?!”

Keith winced a little. “Yeah, that’s me…”

“That means I saw you in the bathroom just today! And you’re in like half my classes! Ohhhh my god, I’m so stupid!” Lance whined and stumbled back, sitting down on the edge of the bathtub.

Keith smiled and crouched in front of him. “Are you saying I was convincing?” Despite the rollercoaster of emotions, they both went through, Keith still managed a shit eating grin.

Lance looked up and tried to feign offense but only managed to start laughing. “Stop fishing for compliments you jerk.” He nudged Keith’s shoulder playfully and smiled.

Keith chuckled warmly and looked up at him with hope in his eyes. “So...you’re not mad?”

“Uh...kinda? I mean it sucks that you lied to me but...I do think I overreacted… I’m sorry, Keith. I was just hurt…” Lance brought his hands up to cup Keith’s face, his shoulders slouching as he relaxed.

Keith brought his hands to Lance’s “I’m sorry too, Lance. I blew up too, and kinda started this whole mess. Maybe, one day you’ll stop having such shitty luck with girls…”

Lance grinned slightly. “Heh, so does that mean we can both be idiots and call it even?”

Keith smiled and nodded. “That sounds about right. But...where do we go from here?”

“Keith, do you...want to stay with me? As a boyfriend?” Keith’s head snapped up, his cheeks heating up at the question. “I really do like you Keith. I’m willing to trust you if you stop all this lying…”

Keith smiled softly and brushed his wet bangs away from his eyes. “Don’t worry, I promise, no more secrets…”

Lance gave him a bright smile and bent down to kiss him and Keith kissed back. Their lips were still cold and damp with rainwater but it made their hearts swell nonetheless. The kiss was soft, delicate even. It tested the bridge to see if things had stabilized after such a violent storm. Keith’s eyes fluttered shut as he sunk into Lance’s grasp, feeling safe and loved in his company.

“Hey…” Lance breathed out as they separated, “It might be a bad time but, I kind of want to...pick up where we left off?” he flashed a nervous smile and blushed.

Keith blushed as well but returned the smile. “We  _ should _ get out of these damp clothes…” There was a flirtatious tone in his voice, one Lance had never heard. An eager grin spread across his face as he stood up, his hands holding Keith’s as they moved to Lance’s bedroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A chapter on the shorter end to contain the nsfw content next chapter. Again, I'm doing this so if you or a friend you recommend this fic to isn't fond of sexual content they can skip without losing plot points. Once they're both written you can skip to chapter 13 and just have a "btw they had sex" footnote in your mind. 
> 
> I debated a lot regarding how long I wanted the angst to last. I decided to have it get cut short because while both of them are hurt their reasons for being /that/ mad is not hard to resolve and ultimately insignificant. I hope the chapter doesn't seem too rushed.
> 
> Thank you so much for your support. This time, in particular, your sweet comments really helped me through a tough spot life-wise. Wish me luck and I may be able to finish this fic before the end of my break from school now that I'm feeling better.


	12. Chapter 12 (NSFW)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: THIS IS THE NSFW CHAPTER
> 
> This chapter contains much more sexual content than the other chapters so I felt a warning was necessary.  
> If you or a friend you recommend this to is uncomfortable with explicit sexual content you are perfectly able to skip this chapter. There are no real significant story beats in this chapter so just having a "btw they had sex" note in your head before chapter 13 is perfectly fine and you do not have to read this chapter in its entirety.
> 
> FINAL WARNING THAT THIS IS A SEXUALLY GRAPHIC CHAPTER

Keith surveyed the bedroom as they stepped inside, Lance shutting the door behind them. Most of the furniture was mismatched and old, most likely things he had used for years before he moved away from his parents. It only clashed further with the newer, but cheap-looking, desk and bedspread. The lamp in the corner gave off an icy blue glow that filled the dim, simplistic, room.

“Yeah, it’s not much, but the bed’s comfy,” Lance commented, demonstrating his claim by plopping down on the plush surface and beckoning Keith to join him. As Lance peeled off his uncomfortably wet socks Keith climbed up beside him, kicking his boots off in the process. “So,” Lance clicked his tongue “where were we?”

Keith snickered and laid down, grabbing Lance’s shoulder and twisting him around to come straddle him again. “I think it was something like this…” Keith smirked up at him, face burning as he guided Lance’s hand to rest low on his hip.

Lance rubbed circles into his hip bone with his thumb, smirking before leaning down to capture his lips again. Keith tilted his head into the kiss, throwing his arms behind Lance to grip at his shirt. He hummed blissfully before forcing the messy kiss to end so he could pull Lance’s shirt past his head. Lance sat up so it could fully come off, Keith haphazardly throwing it to the side.

Keith ran his hands up Lance’s smooth chest before finding purchase on his narrow shoulders again. He wasn’t much in the muscle department but his skin was irresistibly soft. Judging by all the skin care products he saw cluttering Lance’s bathroom, that wasn’t very surprising.

Lance supported Keith’s lower back as he sat up to hold him, fingers quickly tugging Keith’s tucked in shirt free in the back. Keith blushed but used one of his own hands to help completely free the shirt and let Lance pull it away to join their increasingly scattered pile of clothes on the floor. Lance traced the ridges of his abs and chewed his bottom lip a little. “You told me you worked out but god...damn you’re hot…”

Keith smiled and turned his head away a bit, embarrassed by Lance ogling his torso. Lance smirked and leaned in, brushing his lips along Keith’s neck while a hand groped his pecs. Keith groaned softly and turned his head more to completely expose his throat. Every touch of his fingers and lips left Keith’s skin burning. It was almost overwhelming and they had barely gotten started.

“Lance…” Keith whined out as Lance took his skin between his teeth. He sucked a bright red mark right on his collar bone while his hand trailed down to unzip Keith’s skirt. Keith blushed and returned the favor as his hand fumbled with the button on Lance’s jeans.

Lance finally released Keith’s neck and pushed back a little to squirm out of his jeans. Keith pulled himself further onto the bed, the skirt slipping right past his legs as he settled just below the pillows. The strain in Lance’s boxers became borderline painful as he stared at Keith. His only clothing left was a pair of tight black panties.

“H-holy fuck, Keith. You really went all out…” Lance was almost lightheaded, every drop of blood in his body not having a single priority to go to his brain.

Keith blushed shyly but spread his body out on the bed, Lance’s stunned face making him smile. “You like it?”

“That might be an understatement. H-hang on a sec.” Lance pushed himself back to the floor, stumbling a little as his jeans bunched around his ankles and nearly tripped him. Despite having the grace of a drunken swan, he made it around the bed and pulled open the drawer on his bedside table. “I heard you say you’ve never had a boyfriend before so uh...is this your first time...y’know…” Lance made a few vague gestures rather than actually saying it.

Keith blushed and tucked his hair out of his eyes. “Y-yeah, I’m a virgin…” Even if it wasn’t hard to guess, hearing Keith saying it lit Lance’s nerves on fire. Was he seriously going to be this hot stud’s first?

“And...you’re sure you want to?”

Keith nodded, “Yeah, I want you, Lance…” he muttered with a soft exhale. Lance bit back a squeak as he felt his cock twitch in his boxers.

“You okay?” Keith turned to watch him shuffling around in the drawer.

“I’m fine, I’ve done this before, it’s just a little nerve-wracking being someone’s first, you know? Don’t wanna mess up…” At this point, Keith could tell he was stalling.

“Lance...come here…” he stretched to brush his fingers against Lance’s arm and coax him to the bed, his other hand tugging at the elastic band of his provocative underwear. Lance finally shut the drawer, a jar of lube and condom in hand as he climbed back on the bed and straddled Keith’s hips.

Keith sat up and kissed softly along his jawline. “Lance, I know you’re worried but listen. I could’ve died twenty minutes ago. Like hell I want to hesitate after that. So I’m asking you right now, with all my consent...” he pressed a soft kiss to his lips. “Fuck me, Lance...”

A smile formed on Lance’s burning red face as Keith sunk back onto the mattress. “Anything for you, baby…”

Keith smirked back and grabbed hold of Lance’s boxers, tugging them down to fully expose him. In turn, Lance hooked his fingers under the fabric of Keith’s panties and slowly moved them down his legs. Keith bent his knees to fully get them off, Lance leaving them hanging on one of his ankles before he flung them out of sight with a swift kick to the air.

Keith let out an impressed hum as his eyes fell to Lance’s cock. He wasn’t much in the girth department but it was easy to tell Lance’s was longer than his own. It was veiny and lanky but somehow attractive. How fitting.

Lance reached up and lightly tugged the ponytail holder out of Keith’s hair, running his fingers through the soft black strands. “God, can you get any more beautiful…”

Keith blushed as Lance kissed him again, his other hand managing to unscrew the lid of the lube and trail his now slick fingers down the curve of his ass. Keith’s breath hitched in Lance’s mouth as he rubbed light circles around his hole.

Lance pulled back briefly to check Keith’s expression before moving further, his fingers taking very shallow dips past his rim to make sure he wouldn’t hurt him. “Don’t clench baby. Just relax…” Lance muttered, finally breaching him with the first finger.

Keith gasped and shuddered at the unusual feeling but kept himself relaxed as Lance started stretching him. Lance moved his finger slowly, gradually moving up to his knuckle before moving it around, stretching Keith open enough to comfortably add a second finger. Keith let out a stuttering breath as Lance added another finger.

“You holding up okay?” Lance frowned softly, stroking his hair with his other hand.

Keith let out a heavy breath but smiled. “I'm good...keep going.”

Lance hummed in delight and dipped his head down to add more marks to Keith's neck. Keith groaned softly as the fingers inside him began to spread apart and stretch him more.

The room filled with a steady sound of Keith's soft breaths and shudders as Lance attacked his neck with his mouth and his ass with his fingers. The attention from Lance was making Keith hazy. His body was heating up more with every kiss, bite, and touch of Lance's fingers. He barely registered a third finger pushing into him as Lance kissed along his jaw.

“You're so beautiful, baby…” Lance muttered against his skin.

“mmh...Lance I...I think I’m ready…”

Lance sat up and looked over how far his fingers has stretched Keith open before humming in agreement. Keith sighed as the fingers retracted from him, Lance casually wiping his slick fingers off on his dirty shirt that was still hanging on the edge of the bed. He was quick to rip open the condom and slide it on, trying to hide his eagerness and failing.

He coated his wrapped up cock in more lube before grabbing Keith’s ankles and yanking him closer. Keith gasped and blushed at the feeling of the tip of Lance’s dick rubbing against his inner thigh. “You sure you’re ready?” Lance smiled softly down at him and played with Keith’s hair as he waited for a response.

Keith set up and pressed a soft kiss to Lance’s lips. “I trust you, Lance. Just do it…”

Lance blushed but smirked and aligned himself. One hand steadied his hard cock and the other lifting Keith’s hips up further, along with a shameless squeeze of his toned ass cheek.

Lance groaned as his tip breached Keith’s tight rim. He moved in slowly, letting Keith savor every inch of him and feeling his ego swell a bit at Keith’s breathy and drawn out moan. Once he bottomed out, Lance adjusted his position, setting his hands by Keith’s head and leaning over to nearly embrace him. “How’s it feel?”

“G-good, you can start moving now if you want,” Keith smirked up at him, looping his arms around Lance’s shoulders.

Lance moved his hips back about halfway before pushing back in, his movement slow as he carefully watched Keith’s face for signs of discomfort. There was hardly a sound between them besides Keith’s heavy breaths.

“Lance…”

“Yeah, Keith?” he looked down, Keith looked a little annoyed.

“You can move a bit faster than that, y’know.” Lance froze for a second before his face contorted into a devilish look. Keith returned the look and looped his legs around Lance, the balls of his feet poking at Lance’s lower back. “Don’t hold back, babe...”

Lance pulled back again, nearly pulling out of Keith entirely before thrusting back in. Keith gasped, his cock jumping a little between them as Lance built up to a much faster pace. Keith’s breathing got a bit faster, moans falling out with them as he let go of Lance, dropping his hands above his head to give Lance a bit more maneuverability. Lance dug his fingers into the bedding, getting a strong grip to stabilize himself as he thrust harder into Keith.

“Shit, Lance. Lance, you feel so good. Aah, fuck.” Keith muttered a bit.

“Heh, you know people call me The Sharpshooter ‘cuz I always know how to hit the best spots.” Lance flashed a somewhat cocky grin as he pulled back, moving one hand to grasp tightly at Keith’s hip.

Keith scoffed at the nickname. “Pssh, nobody calls you tha-AH! Oh! Oh fuck, Lance!” Keith arched his back and moaned as Lance drove directly into his prostate.

“Just like that.” Lance purred as he took aim again. He thrust tantalizingly close to the same spot, making Keith start to whine and tremble. Lance smiled down at Keith’s beautiful flushed figure, his cock beginning to dribble with pre-come as he was teased. Lance moved his free hand to where Keith’s were, locking their fingers before driving right back into his target. Keith’s moans only got louder, as he started to babble between heavy breaths.

“Mmh! F-fuck- ah! Oh god! Lance! Lance!!” Keith’s eyes were blown wide, the corner of his mouth holding the faintest hint of drool forming and his legs were starting to tremble.

“Y-you close baby?” Lance moaned, the feeling of Keith’s tight heat was making him feel unsteady, even on his knees. He would have teased for so much longer if the heat hadn’t rushed down to his abdomen so quickly. He wasn’t going to last much longer.

“I- mmh! Y-yeah I think I’m close…” Keith whined, squeezing his hand just before Lance pulled it away. Lance’s thrusts started to grow sloppy as he was brought to the tantalizing edge of an orgasm. He gripped Keith’s cock and pumped as he continued to abuse his hole.

“AH! Mmh! La-anh! Oh, fuck! Hah! Unh! O-ohhh god!!” Keith’s hands scrambled to grab the blankets below him as he came with a loud cry. Ropes of come flying out onto Keith’s arched torso and Lance’s trembling hand.

He clenched tight around Lance’s cock, sparking stars in the corners of Lance’s eyes. Lance gasped and moaned through several small rapid thrusts, moving through his orgasm until he was finally spent, holding one hand out to steady himself and kept from collapsing on top of Keith’s sweaty and come spattered body. Keith felt a heavy ringing in his ears, their shared heavy panting was muffled and muted. His delirious mind had to wonder for a brief moment if one could come so hard that they went deaf.

Lance slowly pulled out and quickly disposed of the condom in the small trash bin by his desk. His legs wobbly and uncoordinated as he made the small trek across the room. He looked back to Keith, still out of breath and lying there. He smiled softly and approached, gently wiping the sweat-soaked bangs from his face. “You okay there..?”

“yeah…” Keith took a few more breaths before continuing. “You were amazing…” he hummed and reached to take Lance’s hand.

Lance allowed it for a moment before giving a soft squeeze and slipping his hand out of Keith’s grasp. “I’ll be right back babe, you need a towel…” Despite Keith’s whine, Lance left the room and peeked into the bathroom, grabbing a small hand towel from under the sink and wetting it slightly before returning.

By the time he shut the bedroom door behind him, Keith was completely passed out. His breaths had softened, body was limp, and facial features were completely relaxed. Lance sighed and proceeded to clean up the mess, grateful that nothing had actually gotten on the bedding. Keith’s soft snore was the only response Lance could get from him as he scrubbed him down.

With only minor struggling, Lance tugged the comforter out from under Keith and laid it over top. He turned off the lamp before joined the passed out boy in bed, looping his arms around him and squishing his face against his upper back. His body practically hummed as he basked in the afterglow before letting Keith’s gentle breaths lull him to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm close too ahhhhhhhhhhh!  
> One more soft, dumb chapter and this should be complete! Wish me luck to finish it soon!
> 
> Posting this on Shiro's birthday made me tempted to add a part with him in last minute, but just know that for his birthday Adam is giving him the good dicking he deserves at home.
> 
> Congrats to Takashi Shirogane for surviving these 28 slutty, slutty years.


	13. Chapter 13

Keith grumbled as he was pulled back into the waking world, the early morning sun warming his face as it flooded in from between the blinds. He turned to bury his head in the pillow below him and shield his eyes from the sun. He nearly jumped when he felt a set of fingers twitch against his stomach, pulling his head off the pillow and lifting up the blankets to look.

Lance was curled up against his back, his head resting against Keith’s shoulder blades and his thighs tucked just under Keith’s ass. He had one hand curled in against himself and the other slung over Keith’s side. All of their clothes were still strewn around the room, and they were both buried under a soft ocean blue comforter.

Keith looked back to the hand draped over his body and smiled softly. He took it in his own and gently pulled it close to his chest as a soft blush dusted his cheeks. With everything that happened in the last night alone, it was still hard to be confident that Lance really wanted to stay with him but he’d savor every second of this moment regardless.

“You awake?”

Keith jumped a little as Lance hummed against his skin. He felt the other man lift his head up and place his chin down on Keith’s arm. Keith turned his head to meet his eyes with a smile. “Nope.”

“Liar, you’re staring right at me.”

“I’m sleep...seeing?” Keith gave an awkward shrug as Lance burst into laughter. He kissed Keith’s marked up neck before settling back down against the pillows, squeezing Keith’s hand back with a soft smile.

After another minute of content early morning spooning, Keith faintly heard the charming sound that was a cellphone rattling against Lance’s wood table in the other room.

“That yours? I put mine in a charger last night.” Lance said, reaching back to grab the aforementioned phone from his bedside table.

Keith debated the pros and cons of staying in Lance’s arms before groaning as he sat up. “Yeah, I should get that…” he sighed and scanned the floor, blushing slightly at the pair of black panties crumbled up near his feet. Well, that was all he had.

Lance quirked an eyebrow and whistled a bit as he noticed Keith slipping the underwear back on, earning him a flustered but insincere glare back. Keith braced himself against the wall as he got up, the sharp pain in his tailbone making him wait before moving across the room.

“Sore?” Lance asked with a cocky grin.

“No, I think you were kneeing my tailbone at some point, you jerk.” Keith huffed but chuckled as he left the room. By the time he reached his phone the ringing had stopped and started back up again. Shiro’s contact photo was the first Keith could make out on the phone screen as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He honestly should have expected this.

He could hear a groggy Adam in the background of the phone call when he picked up, muttering something along the lines of “stop worrying, you big baby”.

“Keith?”

“Hey, Shiro.” Keith rolled his eyes at the roughness of Shiro’s voice. Just more confirmation that not staying home was a good idea. “Did you have to call me this early?”

“Well it’s 10 but I’ll admit I was a little worried considering you’ve never stayed the night with someone.”

“I’m an adult Shiro, I know how to handle myself.”

“You sure Mr. “You’re-this-close-to-getting-expelled-Kogane”?” Shiro chuckled and rolled back over to nuzzle against Adam.

“Yes, actually because I told Lance everything. Turns out he likes guys too.”

“And it only took you a month.”

“Hey!”

“Does this mean I can’t do your makeup anymore?”

Keith gave an unseen deadpanned look. “I’m hanging up, Shiro.” Shiro laughed in response.

“Alright, just make sure you leave with enough time to get to work.” he hung up the phone and promptly dropped it to wrap his arms around Adam’s waist.

“You need to get up too you know,” Adam muttered, running his hand through Shiro’s hair. Shiro only grunted in response and leaned more weight on his boyfriend to pin him in his bed. The man’s hypocrisy knew no bounds if warm boyfriend cuddles were part of the equation.

Keith returned to the bedroom, not even trying to be subtle about looking Lance over as he stretched and arched his back, the blankets only barely covering his shame. He flopped back down on the pillows and smiled up at Keith, patting the space beside him for Keith to join him again. Keith slipped back in under the covers, letting out a relaxed sigh as he laid his head on Lance’s chest.

He looked back up at Lance when he snickered. “Your hair is such a mess. God, it looks like a bad mullet.”

“What do you mean? It always looks like a mullet.”

“Wait seriously?!” Lance whined and rolled onto his side. “Nooooo, I was tricked into liking a guy with a mullet.”

Keith was a bit stunned by the reaction but sighed and rested his chin on Lance’s arm. “Is my hair really that big a deal?”

Lance looked back and huffed. “That’s not it. The problem is I still like you with that terrible hair!”

Keith rolled his eyes as he gave a sympathetic pat to Lance’s back. “Such a tragedy that you find your boyfriend attractive…”

Lance looked up immediately, he would’ve played along but at the sound of the ‘b’ word all he could do was blush and beam. He flipped over and pulled Keith close, resting his head on Keith’s chest with a blissful hum. “Boyfriend...can’t say I ever saw this coming…But I’m sure as hell not complaining.”

Keith smiled back and buried his face into Lance’s soft hair. He closed his eyes as he settled into their late morning cuddling. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for him to open them again when the sound of a camera shutter went off. Lance had his arm outstretched, taking a photo with his phone of the two of them in bed.

“What are you doing?”

“Changing your contact in my phone. I needed a profile pic.” Lance brought his arm back down so they could both look at the photo. The sunlight flooding in made for gorgeous lighting, the two of them naturally posed and framed beautifully. And then there was Keith’s face. Lance had caught the exact moment Keith had started to open his eyes to ask what he was doing, eyes squinted and mouth slightly agape. He looked more than a little derpy. Lance couldn’t help but laugh as Keith started demanding him to delete it.

“No way, this is too good.

Keith could only mutter a small but affectionate “jerk…” as Lance set the photo, making sure to zoom and center Keith’s face in particular.

“I hate you, Lance.”

“Well, I was gonna make us breakfast babe but if you wanna hate me then-” Lance stopped when he heard Keith’s stomach grumble. “Oh fine.” Lance snicked and squirmed out Keith’s arms, slipping on a fresh pair of boxers from his drawers. “Oh, and Keith? If you want you can shower while I’m cooking. I don’t mind.”

Keith smiled and got up as well as Lance offered a fresh towel. “Thanks…”

Keith slipped into the bathroom as Lance made his way to the kitchen. After spending a good few minutes trying to figure out how Lance’s shower worked, he slipped inside relaxing his body and relishing in the boiling hot water. He scanned over Lance’s massive line of shampoos and body soaps before finally deciding on the least fancy looking almond scented shampoo at the back of his shower rack.

Once he was cleaned he turned off the water and snatched his towel before stepping out. A neatly folded t-shirt and jeans sitting next to his towel on the counter. A small sticky note with a heart drawn on it was stuck to the shirt. He couldn’t help but smile as he pulled on the clothes.

Lance glanced up from the cooking pancake batter when something got stuck to his cheek. He smiled and pulled off the sticky note as he fully turned around to kiss Keith’s smug face.

“Thanks for the clothes…” Keith muttered against his lips.

Lance smirked, “Thank  _ you _ for looking so good in them…” He not so subtly slipped his hand into the back pocket of Keith’s borrowed black jeans and pulled him into another kiss.

Keith broke the kiss when he smelled something burning. “Weren’t you cooking something?”

Lance yelped and whipped back around, the two pancakes on the stove charred black. “Dammit…” He pouted as Keith started laughing. “Shut up, or I’ll make you eat these!” Lance huffed as he discarded the burnt disks and tried again.

Keith left to gather his things into his backpack until Lance called him to the table. Their breakfast was quiet but the awkward tension of their relationship had faded entirely. Keith let his shoulders slump. He chuckled as Lance tried and failed to pick a particularly slippery piece of food. Lance laughed in turn, finally feeling like he was doing something right. He had someone he absolutely adored that actually loved him in return. It was hard to say how long this would last but he was determined to make the most of it.

Eventually, Keith stood to leave, giving Lance another fleeting kiss as he hesitated at the door. He slung the bag over his shoulder and bounded down the stairs to head to work, making a vow to never, ever, let Regris know about this lest he be mocked constantly.

Lance took a quick sweep of the apartment to clean up and make sure Keith didn’t leave anything behind this time before finally taking the opportunity to shower. After a lengthy hair routine, he returned to his room just as it loudly pinged with a message.

He nearly fainted at the message. A selfie of Keith, borderline seductively, leaning across his bike and clad in his leather. His pale skin glowing in the afternoon sun.

**‘here, so you stop using that awful contact picture’**

**‘** ♥ **Keith** ♥ **sent a photo’**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaaaaaaaaand done!  
> I'll be going over the chapters with a fine-toothed comb in the coming days to fix any persistent typos but other than that I'm ready to tuck this story away.  
> I loved writing this fic so much and I never would've finished without your support.  
> Just you know I do have other ideas in the works. I'll be posting the start of a shklance catboy fic soonish (that will have some sweet and spicy one on one klance moments for sure!) and the Krolia-centered continuation of this fic is still possible if I ever work out how to write it. Ideas would be appreciated for that one lol  
> Thank you all so so much, this fic is officially completed but I may add one more chapter to showcase any art made and my own drawings of character designs and Kate's outfits.  
> Bye for now!


End file.
